October 24, 2026
One day, CJ (Juner Quiambao) was sitting on a bench on campus on his gadget, minding his own business. Fellow college freshman Liam (Nathan Molina) approached CJ, wanting to make friends with him. However, it turned out that CJ was deaf, which left Liam confused as to what to do next. Another student Sarah (Onix Valerio) noticed the impasse between the two guys, and offered her help as an interpreter as she just to happened to know sign language.
"Whatcha Saying?" was originally a 2023 graphic novel of the same title, written and illustrated by deaf Filipino artist and advocate CJ Reynaldo. It was adapted into a one-act play by Heart Romero, the founder of Apothecary Productions, whose maiden project was "Emulsion -- A Twinbill" in November 2024. Now living in La Union, fate reunited Romero with former theater colleagues, which then connected her with Komiket, the publisher of Reynaldo's book.
The book version of "Whatcha Saying?" is a manual teaching Filipino Sign Language used in various day-to-day situations, with a humorous approach. It informs us on proper etiquette how to react and interact in the presence of deaf people -- like how to catch their attention properly, or how to talk directly to them and not to the interpreter. It also tells us that the deaf do not like term "hearing-impaired" because it implied that the deaf are broken or lacking.
Romero's adaptation of "Whatcha Saying?" for the stage made it a BL (boys' love) romantic comedy, jumping off from the LGBT references in the book. I am not sure if it was this aspect that earned the play a rating of R-16. Both boys were mostly shy and clueless, so Quiambao and Molina played it coy and cute. Audiences did whoop it up during their "kilig" scenes. It was up to the weird, wild character of Sarah with her matchmaking prowess to liven things up. Valerio clearly went all-out outrageous in her gleefully eccentric portrayal.
An unconventional technique that Romero used was having a parallel trio who sort of mirrored the main trio. They were: swing Bruce Mendoza as alternate CJ who can talk, Wayne San Juan as alternate Liam who can sign, and Bev Palileo as alternate Sarah to duplicate all her wackiness. Honestly, this device can be rather confusing. Their purpose was unclear, and they can distract attention from the main actors. They also seemed inconsistent in their portrayals, but this coordination should improve with more shows in the run.
The main purpose of the book was to teach Filipino Sign Language, so of course Romero had to somehow squeeze them into the script. We were taught about sign names and how they were chosen and created for each person. The part in the book about Filipino street food was given its own scene, with Aura Payawan playing a barbecue vendor. We were taught how to say "Thank you" or "I am sorry." Maybe they could break the fourth wall once in a while and engage the audience to return demo the signing for a more interactive learning experience.
At the beginning of the play, they played a video of author CJ Reynaldo's welcome address. He was signing throughout so we had to read the subtitles, which can be hard to read when a tall person is seated in front of you. During the play, whenever CJ was signing, these were interpreted as surtitles projected on the wall above the stage. They need to limit the amount of text that the audience needs to read and the speed at which they are projected. The more we are reading the surtitles, the longer our eyes won't be on the action on stage.
With the nature of my day job, I also have a sworn duty to help patients with ear conditions that make them hard of hearing. I am happy to support and promote this play that informs us about how the deaf communicate with each other, and their interaction with the hearing world. I had taken up lessons in sign language when I was younger, but eventually lost the skill due to lack of opportunity to use and practice. Watching this play made me go buy a copy of the book after the show (P500 at the gate) and try to relearn sign language all over again.
***********
WHATCHA SAYING -- A STAGE ADAPTATION runs at the auditorium of Thames International, located along Calle Industria, in Libis, Quezon City from November 4 to 7, at 8pm, with 5 pm matinees on November 4 and 7. Tickets at P800 only.
It will have another run of shows in Lorma Colleges in San Fernando, La Union on November 14 to 16, with shows at 3 pm and 7 pm for all three days. Tickets at P500 only.
No comments:
Post a Comment