Written by: Jay Crisostomo IV
Directed by: Sig Pecho
After their final day of high school, Dennis (Khayl Sison) and Yanni (Quiel Andrew Quiwa) meet at their close friend Chippy's (Jerome Dawis) house to get together one more time before their graduation day. Behind their raucous juvenile craziness and raunchy adolescent activities, it turned out each of them was dealing with various problems, such as extreme parental pressure, an impossible crush and hopelessly low grades.
The melodramatic title seemed ironic for a play about high school graduates. This play was set in 1999, so the writer and director included several pop culture and musical references from that time to create a rich atmosphere of nostalgia. At this age, I know that the thoughts of teenage boys are expected to be rather sexually-preoccupied. However, it was unfortunate that most of their foolish noisy banter that afternoon centered on these kinky topics, which was admittedly not too comfortable to sit through. Even the two adult characters, Chippy's mother Mrs. Garcia (Peewee O'Hara) and their teacher Mrs. Javier (Ina Azarcon-Bolivar), were also made to deliver vulgar sex jokes!
I realize these were the same naughty gimmicks which made "Wanted Male Boarders" very popular last year and even landed it among the revisited this year. However, in the context of "Dapithapon," there could have been so much more for these boys to talk about which could have made the script feel more substantial than trashy. I felt they missed a vital opportunity to recreate more universal high school graduation memories for more audiences to relate to. The technical aspects of the online staging was more or less basic when compared to the others, nothing very unique to make it particularly memorable.
Written by Juliene Mendoza
Directed by: Fitz Bitana
Playwright Peter (Iggi Siasoco) was spending a fun time with his younger brother Bobby (Vino Mabalot) who had just been discharged from the hospital after complications from a severe drunken binge. They were having a blast playing video games, discussing comic books, super heroes, multiverses, movies and their mother's cooking. As the two brothers promised each other a closer relationship, Peter invited Bobby to watch the premiere of the new alternate reality play he had written for a theater festival.
The attractive backdrop of their online stage was composed of vividly colorful comic book panels. Director Fitz Bitana came up with very clever ideas on how to stage video games (using the actors themselves "fighting" on the floor) and superhero battles (using costumed hands and fingers "fighting" on the tabletop). There was a playful part where the brothers morphed into Olderman and Alaska Boy. Because of the online platform, this play actually became the visual feast its title promised to be. There were occasional lapses when certain parts of an actor's body would cross over screen borders, betraying the fact that the two actors were not acting in separate places as the illusion should be.
Stories about brothers (from "A River Runs Through It" to "Rain Man") always get to me, and now I add this story to that list. That I grew up and still have an ongoing fascination with anything comic book and superheroes myself drew me even further into this fraternal drama. I was thankful that writer Juliene Mendoza kept everything wholesome and easily relatable for all ages. As I had mentioned in my previous reviews, Mendoza had consistently amazed me with his acting talent, and now I also recognize his talent as a playwright to imbue this one-act play with so much heart and deep pathos in its short running time. This is certainly a new classic.
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