Para
sa pag-ibig, ano’ng kaya mong gawin?
What can you do for love?
The question really is, what won’t you do for love?
Get ready to
witness a different kind of love triangle between Eurydice, Orfeo and
Eurydice’s father. We explore love, loss and the pleasures of pain and memory
in thismyth’s contemporary retelling that shows the young and very much in love
Orpheus and Eurydice.
Eurydice meets a man in her wedding,
claiming that he has letters for her from her dead father. As she struggles to
take hold of the letter from the man, she dies in the process and arrives in
the Underworld to her father. As Orfeo tries to pursue her and descend to the
Underworld, she must choose between ‘the love for her husband which she has
already forgotten’ and her ‘father’s unconditional love.‘
Director Loy Arcenas
touches on the underlyingproblem with falling in love – that one is always ahead
of the other, and a familial devotion between a father and daughter. He asks,
“Why is Eurydice so much more in love with her father?” Maybe it’s the father’s
paternal tenderness pulling her in. He continues, “Maybe Eurydice wants someone
to cocoon her and show her unselfish love [that transcends youth, beauty and
infatuation]. Orfeo does not get this until the after life.”
“How can one possibly fall
in love with another person? For us to fall in love, we have to find a way to
give ourselves. How much of one’s self can you give to falling in love?”
Director Loy Arcenas throws us hard hitting questions that take us into an
emotional rollercoaster dealing with love, love
lost and grief. We are also presented with the complexity of being in a
relationship and the differences two people in love have to deal with, such as
having different expressions or languages of love.
This depiction of Eurydice
is arbitrary and unorthodox, and mirrors the realities of the human condition.
Despite the sadness of the myth, a sense of wonder and hope envelopes deeper
themes of death, love and loss.
Tanghalang Pilipino’s
Eurydice is not your typical love story. It is indeed a story about love –
embracing not just romantic love but also the bond between a father and a
daughter, family relationships, the complexity of marriage, and dealing withlife
& the afterlife.
Theme
and Setting
Be enthralled with a lot of
imagery–water currents as an elevator in which it rains to get to the
Underworld, rocks that taunt and whisper, flowers that adorn the wedding
setting, and most of all, a thrust stage –one that extends into the audience on three sides and
is connected to the backstage area – to provide greater intimacy between
performers and the audience.
***
The cast
features Tanghalang Pilipino Actors Company’s Lhorvie Nuevo for the title role
and Marco Viaña as Orfeo, with guest actors Audie Gemora and Juliene Mendoza
alternating as the Father, and Alfritz Blanche as the Big Stone.
The production staff includes Loy
Arcenas, direction and set design; Tanghalang Pilipino Actors Company’s
Antonette Go and Joshua Tayco, assistant direction; Barbie Tan – Tiongco,
lighting design and technical direction; Teresa Barrozo, sound design; and James
Reyes, costume design.
Tanghalang Pilipino is on its milestone 30th
theater season, and as we close this season, we are proud to offer, EURYDICE, a
Filipino adaptation by Guelan Luarca of Sarah Ruhl’s play of the same title,
based on the Greek myth of the love between Orpheus and Euridice.
Eurydice
will run at the CCP Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater) from
February 17, 2017 until March 5, 2017, at the following times, Fridays at 8PM,
Saturdays at 3PM and 8PM, and Sundays at 3PM.
Tickets
are at 1,500 and 1,000. Tickets for students are at a discounted price of 750
and 500. Subscriptions and group discounts are also available through
Tanghalang Pilipino at 832.1125 locals 1620-21, 822.2920 (direct line) or
through Ms. Lorelei Celestino at 0915.607.2275 or 0908.894.1384
Tickets are available through TicketWorld at https://www.ticketworld.com.ph
or 891.9999; and the CCP Box Office at 832.3704
Photos by Jojo Mamangun
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