Pinoy Screen and Stage: 7 Things That Make Tanghalang Pilipino's "Mga Buhay na Apoy" Exciting!

Monday, October 5, 2015

7 Things That Make Tanghalang Pilipino's "Mga Buhay na Apoy" Exciting!

1. Kanakan' Balintagos official theater comeback!

Formerly known as Auraeus Solito, Balintagos' heart will always be in the theater. Before becoming a film director, he used to head his theater group in UP Diliman. During his time there, he staged both contemporary and classical plays, as well as his own materials like Manhid. He is both the writer and director of this play, an auteur.

2. The material is a Palanca winner
The full-length play won the first place in thie year's Palanca awards.

3. Irma Adlawan's first play in three years
Though Irma Adlawan is one of Philippine theaters' leading actresses of the 21st century, she had a respite of a few years from the theater scene. Her last play was "Forsaken" House in 2012 where she played the lead role of "Encarna". When she was asked about this during the presscon, she said there were no offers during that period.

4. Rotating Set

Okay, the set doesn't literally rotate during the play. It just gives the audience a complete "reverse perspective" after the intermission (Acts 3 and 4). Go see for yourself. The set was designed by renowned architect an recent Gawad CCP awardee Paulo Acazaren.

5. Lights from dusk till dawn
Sorry to disappoint performance photographers but there are no bright lights during the play except for the lunar moon towards the end. You'd need a prime lens to capture all the action without grain. What we get is a near-perfect reimagination of lights mostly at dusk and dawn, a work of art in itself. The very capable lighting designer is Dennis Marasigan.

6. Chekhovian drama fused with Palawan folklore

In a Chekhovian drama, the pacing and acting is encapsulated in the school of naturalism. It is literally real-life drama. Since the auteur of the play is a Palaw-an, he inserted scenes involving the Parimanis, which is the "absolute truth and beauty". It lended a surrealist quality to this Chekhovian drama which proved once again that art can also be ethereal aside from eternal.

7. You will see why it is better to live in truth

There's a scene where a character talks about another character who thinks it's okay to just go around telling white lies. He even goes far as to say that this person paints lies in different colors. After you watch this play, you will realize that acceptance, forgiveness, and facing the truth are very important in maintaining quality relationships. Lies can only get one so far and the truth will eventually be uncovered. Characters in the play go through a ritual of cleansing. Fire may have hurt them a lot in the process but they came out of it stronger and more whole.