June 13, 2024
Playwright: Herlyn Alegre
Director: Ian Segarra
It was the 100th birthday of Mang Dencio (Ekis Gimenez). He had a much-younger wife Tonette (Gold Soon), 35 years his junior. Also visiting were his problematic middle child, Carmer (Madeleine Nicolas), and his favorite eldest grandchild Joel (Reggie Ondevilla). Together they bicker among themselves while waiting for the arrival of Kapitan (Gie Onida), Social Worker (Chunchi Cabasaan) and media folk (Maron Mabana, Donn Boco) who will bring the check for P100,000 due centenarians as per the law
Herlyn Alegre is a known quality brand in VLF, with memorable works like "Imbisibol" (2013) and "Fangirl" (2019). Here, she mined comedy out of greedy family dysfunction and self-serving solicitousness of local politicians in the light of the cash gift for centenarians, and pulled it off despite some lapses in logic. The physical comedy aspects were the funniest for me, with the convincingly aged-up Gimenez as Dencio literally getting carried around the stage.
This is my favorite play of Set B.
Playwright: Dip Mariposque
Director :Roobak Valle
The grandmother of the Divina siblings had passed away, so the three of them were spending the pandemic lockdown in the house she left behind. Gay elder brother Renzo (Alden Co) had been the one who took care of her and had dibs on the bedroom, so younger brother Caloy (AJ Castro) and ex-nun sister Emily (Via Antonio) had to stay in the living room. Suddenly, their 53 year-old mother Tess (Meliza Reyes) showed up with her own big surprise.
Via Antonio was clearly the star of this show as her undeniable talent for comic delivery was in full display here. However, I was not comfortable with the religious irreverence of her jokes, as her every line broke the third commandment. The pandemic setting of this play immediately made it and its jokes feel dated for me. I suspect it would have worked better if the story had been taken out of the Covid situation, which it could have.
Playwright: Jhudiel Clare Sosa
Director: Meann Espinosa
Regina (Ash Nicanor) was a girl from the province who was allowed by her supportive single mother Luz (Kitsi Pagaspas) to study in the city. One day, Mom visited to stay over at Regina's apartment over the weekend. Mom was scandalized to see a dildo among Regina's things. In the argument that ensued, they dropped a big box they were fighting over. When the contents scattered on the floor, Mom was shocked several times more.
Like the first two plays in this set, there were serious issues being tackled here behind the laughs -- about the wide difference between how female sexuality was regarded by the Gen X and Gen Z women. Kitsi Pagaspas was also a master in comic delivery as the shell-shocked Mommy Luz getting to know the new Regina. While a central mother-daughter bonding scene set to psychedelic imagery and heady music was trippy good, I was not really sure what they were actually doing.
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