June 15, 2024
Playwright: Neil Azcuna
Director: Phil Noble
Luna (Sheryll Ceasico) was going to the airport to meet her American boyfriend Greg who had promised to bring her back to Illinois, USA. Her ex-husband Marlon (Roi Calilong) rented a taxi to drive her there. Along the way, cheery pleasantries eventually led to bitter arguments as old wounds were reopened. Through all this, Luna thought about her mother Corazon (Kiki Baento) who left her behind when she went to the US.
For practically the entire play, Luna and Marlon were only talking in the makeshift "taxi," as the video projections behind them simulated the motion of the ride. It really depended on the skills of the two actors to make the lines pop into vivid life. Ceasico flawlessly went through the gamut of emotions, while Calilong solidly played her straight man. Luna was from Bohol, so the accent was prominently Bisaya, realistic even if the actors were not Bisaya.
Playwright: Dustin Celestino
Director: Toni Go-Yadao
One night, Gary (Joshymae) invited his fellow psychology professor Joseph (Dyas Adarlo) to join him to go drinking to release some stress. Joseph was still depressed over his recent breakup with his girlfriend. Gary frequented the nightclub of Mama Tess (Heart Puyong) to visit his favorite GRO Bea (Jorrybelle), whom he felt was truly in love with him. However, their night was marred when they saw their delinquent student Lazaro (Bon Lentejas) also there.
The highlight of a Dustin Celestino play is the way he wrote dialogue, heard in the thought-provoking conversations in plays like "Doggy" (VLF 16) and "Fermata" (VLF 17), and his film "Ang Duyan ng Magiting" (Cinemalaya 2023). Here, we are engrossed as we listen in to the thoughts of both men and GROs as they psychoanalyzed each other. Joshymae impressively played against type as a toxic male with a savior complex, with Adarlo, Lentejas, Jorrybelle and Puyong also delivering strongly.
This is my favorite play of Set D.
Playwright: Elise Santos
Director: Caisa Borromeo
It was 2005 in an all-girls high school. Marie (Jam Binay) seriously thought that she was pregnant with the new savior via immaculate conception. Meanwhile, her best friend Regina (Cheska de la Cruz) volunteered to join an audition to pick the school representative to the Bible Week singing contest. Her guitarist was Gab, a boyish lesbian classmate who had a crush on Regina. However, Regina did not reciprocate the affection.
This play felt like a synthesis of various memories of graduates of an all-girl high school. In the grand scheme of things, I don't seem to see how the Immaculate Conception story was connected to the teen lesbian romance story, so i felt it was more for shock value than anything else. In any case, the three young ladies were committed and consistent with their characters, so they were quite entertaining to watch, even if some jokes tended to be too irreverent for me.
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