Ex-policeman Dadong (Jonathan Tadioan) ran his household located in Zapote Street like a tight ship. He led with an iron hand to enforce his own set of strict unconventional rules that he came up with. His wife Dely (Lhorvie Nuevo) was already numbed to all the years of physical, sexual and psychological abuse under him. She was content to just followed him blindly, whatever he asked her to do, no matter how irrational it was.
Their only daughter Mila (Toni Go) was preparing to take the medical board exam, when she suddenly started having morning sickness. It was only then that she told her parents that she already had a boyfriend, a doctor named Noel (Marco Viana), and they wanted to get married. Dadong agreed, but on the condition that Noel paid a prohibitive dowry, and, using Dely's delicate condition as an excuse, that they won't move out.
The original "Kisapmata" was a 1981 film directed by Mike de Leon. De Leon also co-wrote it along with Clodualdo del Mundo Jr. and Raquel Villavicencio, based on a true-to-life crime story entitled "The House on Zapote Street" written by Nick Joaquin. Starring Vic Silayan, Charo Santos, Jay Ilagan, and Charito Solis, it swept the awards at the 7th MMFF where it premiered, and is now recognized as one of the best Filipino films ever made.
People who had watched this original film before would be very well aware of the twisted nature of the story. Luarca's adaptation made things more eerie by making mother Dely as the narrator, as well as some sort of color commentator inserting her own ominous remarks while the other characters were talking. We barely had a chance to breathe as this intensely gripping play ran straight for a squeamish hour and half without an intermission.
The quartet playing the four main characters were none other than the senior members of Tanghalang Pilipino's Actors' Studio -- Tadioan, Nuevo, Go and Viana. As expected, each of them gave memorable performances which will surely be recognized for awards by year's end, thereby adding for the other awards they've won before. As early as now, the award for Ensemble Acting in a Play seems to be in the bag already, if only for their mental stress of playing these damaged characters live on stage multiple times
Tadioan's imposing bodily heft looked intimidating even if he was just silently standing around with his sinister scowl. He affected this wheezy voice that made his Dadong more creepy, truly a devil incarnate. Nuevo's physical demonstrations of abuse and haunting whispery voice were disturbing to watch and listen to. Go's Mila was the poster-girl of Stockholm Syndrome, caught between filial loyalty and self-happiness. Viana's Noel was like an animal desperate to free himself from the trap he unwittingly got caught in.
The raised green stage was generally empty with only two boxes up there, surrounded by a box of soil with stalks of grass, where Dadong grew his earthworms. There was an open doorway at the back showing a field of tall grass. Aside from Dadong's gun and machete, the ensemble only pantomimed the doors, the shower or the rotary phone. Overhead there were screens where the times of day was flashed so we can get a sense of the time.
I had seen the movie before, and I would admit that I never saw it more than a crime story. However, in this play version, the screens above also reveal the real-life local political situation in the early 80s that this story of tyranny and oppression represented. Dadong represented the all-powerful dictator. Dely and Mila represented the country and her citizens, victims of his perverse concept of "love". Noel represented the martyrs who wanted to rescue the hostages, but lost their lives in the process.
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Tanghalang Pilipino's "Kisapmata" runs from March 7 - 30, 2025 at the Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez, CCP Complex. Tickets sell at P2000 for VIP and P1500 for Regular, which you can still buy from this LINK.
