June 6, 2026
The theme of this year's Virgin Labfest, on its 21st year, is "Hubo't Hubad" (or "Stark Naked"). It is touted to be "a celebration of adulthood, raw energy, and fearless storytelling, ... where the Filipino voice and spirit are laid bare to tell stories without restraint." It runs from June 3 to 28, 2026 at the Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez, CCP Black Box Theater.
Marco Viaña is on his fifth year as festival co-director, holding fort with his new co-director Toni Go-Yadao. Sandie Javier is the head production manager. Rafa Lubigan and Camilo De Guzman are the head stage managers. Julio Garcia is the head set designer. Monica Sebial and Sam Quizon are the main costume stylists. TJ Ramos is the head sound designer. Roman Cruz and Loren Rivera are the main lighting designers.
I watched the technical dress rehearsals of Sets C and D on May 29 and 30 respectively. I watched the first week matinee premieres of Sets A and B on June 3 and June 4 respectively. My rankings here are purely subjective and personal, depending on how I liked the concept of the play, its depth, complexity and significance, and how it was performed when I watched it.
Here is how I would rank the 12 new plays of VLF 21: HUBO'T HUBAD:
Playwright: Dustin Celestino
Director: Ron Capinding
Celestino wrote this reflective play about fathers, sons and broken manhood with eloquent, very powerful lines, infused with a heady dose of testosterone. It was perfection how director Capinding staged this with so much dramatic vitality despite being essentially a series of lengthy monologues. Each actor gave the best performances I had seen them give on a stage. In his emotional valedictory, Yuzon bared the playwright's very soul with such raw vulnerability as he dug deep within himself to reflect upon his own father.
Playwright: Nik Azcuna
Director: Cholo Ledesma
Writer Azcuna has come up with a medical drama complicated by issues of politics, and made more challenging by issues of religion. Aside from the dilemma between Jeanie and Ishmael and Dr. Abdul's Solomonic decision, there was also a dilemma within Ishmael himself, being a Muslim man who did not agree with the violence resorted to by radical Muslim rebels. Director Ledesma and the passionate performances of Pajara, Puyong and Cabrera made this a topnotch theater experience, riveting to the end.
Playwright: Anthony Kim Vergara
Director: Norbs Portales
It was not that easy to get into this play at first, especially as the script was very heavy with information technology jargon, as writer Vergara is an IT guy after all. However, it did not take long for us to pick up that we were watching people who were experts in illegal operations, like hacking, scamming, and even election cheating -- very disturbing stuff. At that point, we get totally engrossed as the plot escalated into a very tense standoff situation, as skillfully executed with nail-biting suspense by Portales and the ensemble led by Rayos, Gahol, Onida and Estioco.
Playwright: Jerom Canlas
Director: Mikko Angeles
We have seen other works that dealt about the effects of an unexpected death of a young person to those he has left behind. However, this particular play packed a much stronger gut punch because we are aware that this tragedy had actually happened in real life to both playwright Jerom and lead actor Elijah when their youngest brother JM passed away barely three years ago at age 17. Everyone's intense pain and the anguish felt very genuine because they really are.
Playwright: Gab Mactal
Director: Maria Paulina Marasigan
The emotional reconnection between the two women was sensitively written by young transgender playwright Mactal, filled with beautiful quotes from St. Thomas Aquinas and verses from the Bible, notably the Book of Ruth. Aquino's jaded and bitter Jacinta contrasted well with Miclat's peaceful and content Lualhati, as they revisited their callow youth and revealed unresolved issues, until they reached that cathartic moment that had them both in genuine tears.
Playwright: Elijah Felice Rosales
Director: Nelsito Gomez
Playwright Rosales is also a newspaper journalist, so he had inside knowledge about the topic in his play -- the tricky issue of ethics in mass media. This was a pure two-hander, only two characters engaged in a very serious conversation. At first, we saw Ish and Doy as good friends, until their bitter exchange of accusations soon expose their respective flaws. As Peña and Navato both argue their points with passion and intensity, I sensed some non-sequiturs in Doy's beef against Ish. Ultimately, we see why we can never really get the complete story in the news we read.
Playwright: Floyd Scott Tiogangco
Director: Lhorvie Nuevo-Tadioan
This play may have a predictable plot, as you can somehow see how it will all wind up from the get-go. However, it took a very unconventional route towards that ending. We get to see how people living with drugs from below the poverty line still idolize the government waging a war against them. With her sensitive treatment of the material, Nuevo-Tadioan made us care for this poor clueless couple, allowing Silverio and Cariaga to delight us with their sweet, silly antics for most of the play. We thought we were a cute naughty comedy, until it was not.
Playwright: John Lapus
Director: Tuxqs Rutaquio
Rage rooms can be a rich source of funny lines as since there are so many annoying things we can all agree to be angry about, politics not spared. With the comic timing of Mosang and Bables at their most razor-sharp, Lapus let fly one snappy joke after another as the dishes were being thrown, with varying results. As this was basically one long single-concept comedy skit, pacing and consistency can be an issue when this idea is stretched to an hour's length.
Playwright: Faith Ferrer Lacanlale
Director: Sheenly Gener
This play had the misfortune of playing right after the elegant "Elehiya," which was certainly a tough act to follow. In stark contrast, this play went for all-out visual slapstick comedy -- complete with cute piggy ears, tail and snout -- admittedly cute the way Innocencio "transformed" into one. However, we recognize that this extreme physical comedy was a technique to visually represent the girls' psychological torture that was not funny at all.
10. SHE'S ELECTRIC (Set C)
Playwright: Ron Evangelista
Director: JP Habac
The script even mentioned the film that likely inspired it -- "Her" (Spike Jonze, 2013), so the twist was not exactly difficult to figure out. With the rapidly escalating ubiquity of technology nowadays, the scenario presented by this play is not anymore so far-fetched. Movie star De Castro's Rose was a riveting vision in scarlet. Cabiladas' Robert was delightfully giddy about his perfect girlfriend, yet very protective when her value was being questioned.
Playwright: Gerald Manuel
Director: Tess Jamias
To represent the fragile mental health of a young career woman, Manuel involved dark mythological creatures known as Manlalayug (complete with PowerPoint introduction), while director Jamias employed horror techniques with the lighting, music, messy set and movement to make us feel the overwhelming claustrophobia Pheobe was experiencing. From her grand entrance from behind a painting on the wall, Vergara played Lala with her signature quirky verve, going all-out crazy as only she could.
Playwright: Alab Uzman
Director: Mark Daniel Dalacat
The Adam story was a good start, but it ended abruptly just when things got interesting. The Taib story had good tension and human drama, but this foreign-based story felt out of place in between the two Filipino stories. The Thania story was so low-key, it was not a strong anchor episode. The whole trilogy felt static, never lifting off at all. Honestly, it could have been more interesting if Usman had just concentrated on Adam's story, developing it further in terms of its inherent conflicts, and resolving it with proper conviction.
**********
Here are the links to my Full Reviews per set:
Set A: TENGANG KAWALI (Link)
Set B: KAPIT TUKO (Link)
Set C: BALAT KALABAW (Link)
Set D: PUSONG MAMON (Link)
No comments:
Post a Comment