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When I discovered that Dante Nico Garcia’s Ploning would be the official Philippine entry for the Best Foreign Film category of the 81st Academy Awards, I felt iffy about the whole idea of sending any Filipino movies to the Oscars in general. I’m no expert on Philippine cinema but the way I see it, movies designed to be commercially successful among foreign audiences have to be one of two things: either it will show nothing but exaggerated “squalor squalor squalor” (to quote Dr. J Neil Garcia) or it will show the Philippines as a tropical island paradise minus the depressing reality of squalor squalor squalor.

On the one hand, it can be argued that, yes, squalor squalor squalor is the way the rest of the world should see us because the reality of poverty is difficult to ignore. While I do believe that those who see the Philippines (either through movies or an actual visit) should also get a glimpse of the indescribable poverty plaguing the country, a movie that lingers too long on the poverty angle would be the socio-political equivalent of a horror movie. Except instead of zombies we have street children, lepers ten families in a shack, all producing the same shock and horror effect on the audience. It’s bad enough that they get to live under inhuman conditions; now we have to fetishize them and turn them into a freak show too.

On the other hand, you can also say, “Why must we be so negative when our country is so beautiful despite the poverty and exploitation? Let’s get away from all this negativity and show the rest of the world how rich we are in natural resources!” So local and foreign audiences get bombarded with postcard-perfect after postcard-perfect image of our beaches, mountain ranges, and rainforests (jungles?). And we get so bedazzled by all that beauty that we forget to ask ourselves crucial questions about audience, perspective, and intention. Who are the people who get to enjoy the beauty of the Philippines? Is it the Filipinos who live in those postcard-perfect areas, the Filipinos who eventually end up being employees of resorts? The Filipinos from the Manila who can afford to enjoy them? The foreigners who come to the Philipipnes to enjoy not just the country’s beauty but the Filipino/as themselves? When showing these images, who are we really making the country look so beautiful for? And for what purpose?

I bring this up because Ploning is one of those impressive, picture-perfect movies that could easily mislead audiences into thinking that life in the Philippines is quaint, easy, and peaceful. The cinematography was so well done that if you paused the movie at any point, the frozen picture would have look gorgeous on your living room wall. Based on the visuals alone, I could easily see why any Filipino would be proud to show Ploning to a foreign audience (hey look, we’re not all about squalor here!).

Warning: spoilers ahead.

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Despite my being an English Lit major wannabe I have yet to see a Shakespeare drama onstage, so I was really excited when Lorna Lopez (aka The Bachelor Girl) invited me to see Repertory Philippines’ Hamlet. Perhaps this is just me being a Shakespearean theater n00b, but I walked into Onstage Greenbelt expecting to see something like this:

Instead, what I got was this:

For a moment there I thought Ade and I had accidentally stumbled upon a Ragnarok cosplay event. Now, if I had done my homework and read up on the production, I wouldn’t have been too surprised by the post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk look donned by the actors. Repertory Philippines’ Hamlet is supposed to take place in a nameless world that – just like the play itself – has been “stripped to its core” (nevermind that I heard Denmark and England mentioned a couple of times in the dialogue). To quote the article from the Repertory Philippines website, “When stripped to its core, this immortal masterpiece, this most famous of Shakespeare’s plays, is really about greed, love, vengeance, passion: in short, all the ugly, hateful, beautiful, sordid things that make us human.”

Instead of tights, pointy shoes, and feathered hats, the characters wore leather jackets, goggles, and too many belts around their torso. In the place of a fancy palace set was rocks and a lot of sand.

Maybe this is just me being slightly disappointed about not seeing Elizabethan costumes on my very first Shakespearean theater experience. But I’d think that the audience can appreciate all the human emotions inherent in Hamlet (or the essence of Hamlet, if you will) through how the actors deliver their lines instead of what they wear. In that sense, Repertory Philippines’ Hamlet was very successful. Despite not being very familiar with Shakespearean English, it wasn’t too difficult for me to follow what was going on thanks to the actors’ fluid acting and distinct body language. Of course, it took some concentration for me to comprehend the nuances and the wordplay in the dialogue. But all you really need to do is pay attention, and you’ll get it. So first timers – you don’t have to be afraid of falling asleep in your chair or being completely lost in translation if you’ve never encountered a word of Shakespeare in your life. The actors will make it easy for you to follow the plot all the way to its tragic conclusion.

I do understand the need to “update” the costumes though. Hamlet has been done and redone for four hundred years and every production needs to add something new so the play doesn’t get stale. I still think Elizabethan costumes would have helped viewers contextualize the play, though. Don’t get me wrong – objectively speaking, I thought the costumes were fabulous. I’d wear that on a normal day if it were cold enough for boots and jackets here, but the costumes were little inappropriate for play and I don’t see how it helps “strip Hamlet to the core”. If anything the costumes added another layer of complexity to it. Why make the characters look like something out of an MMO-RPG instead of having them wear all black or all white if some sort of minimalism was what they were after?

Despite my problem with the production’s aims, I highly recommend that you catch Repertory Philippines’ Hamlet at Onstage Greenbelt 1. The show will be playing up til February 17 only so watch it! Now!

February 1-17, 2008
8:00 PM on Fridays & Saturday
3:30 PM on Saturdays & Sundays

Venue
OnStage
2/F Greenbelt 1, Ayala Center, Makati City

Tickets
Orchestra Center – P 550.00
Orchestra Side – P 350.00
Balcony – P 250.00

Other reviews:
Ade – Hamlet
Fritz – Still Awestruck by Repertory Philippines’ Hamlet
Gibbs – Welcome Initiates! (not really a review but whatever, I’m mentioned here )

I’ve never been one for fairy tales. As a child I was fed the usual diet of Disney movies and happily-ever-after endings by my well-meaning parents, which I did enjoy. Sometimes, however, I wish they exposed my childhood self to literature along the lines of The Call of Cthulhu instead. It’s quite a shock to enter the real world and discover that:

a) there really IS such a thing as Prince Charming, but he’s so damn charming that all the Prince Charmings in all fairy tales are one and the same guy
b) the hero complex all those would-be Princes have gets really old and ridiculous after a while
c) wicked witches in the woods make better friends than pampered princesses
d) I’m not going to sit around and wait for some douchebag on a horse to protect me from the dragons and giants of the world. I can venture out of my castle all alone just fine, thank you very much.

I suppose all that happy ending propaganda is good for something because kids would start swinging from their bedroom windows if they learned how shitty life can get at such an early age. Once I start crapping out babies I’ll still read them fairy tales, but with a healthy mix of their retold versions, just so they don’t have any illusions about what kind of characters and moral dilemmas are waiting for them outside their parent’s home.

Last Friday I saw The New Voice Company’s production of Into the Woods with Fritz at the Music Museum. Seeing as I am an uncultured lout, all I knew about the play was that it’s a retelling of several fairy tales in a single narrative; I wasn’t entirely sure about the particulars of the plot and the conflict. But that basic premise was enough to get me all excited about finally getting to see it onstage. What I love about the sub-genre of retold fairy tales is the clever way in which black and white are sprinkled with shades of gray and the unexpected and often dark twists added to predictable and saccharine childhood classics.

For a moment I was worried that Into the Woods would be a total disappointment. The first act of the play, which ran for about an hour and a half, was surprisingly campy for a retold fairy tale. The bad guys got punished and the good guys got their wishes granted after a series of deus-ex-machina moments. Save for Julia Abueva, the 11-year old girl who played Red Riding Hood, I wasn’t too impressed by the cast’s performance. I was ready to go home and crash by the time the characters were prancing about on stage being all in-your-face about getting what they wanted. But the real retelling begins at Act Two; the plot becomes far more sinister as our fairy tale heroes suffer the treachery of their deepest desires. As though the cast members were saving their energy, everyone’s performances picked up and I got wowed off my seat by their powerful musical monologues, especially Lynn Sherman’s (The Witch) rendition of The Last Midnight. Act Two is also the part where characters start dying off one by one. I’m not going to say which characters get squished under the giant’s heel but rest assured, the most useless and annoying one gets her due, and you’ll be snickering like mad when that finally happens.

If you intend to bring children under ten years old to see Into the Woods, I suggest that you leave after Act One ends because they’re bound to get restless and bored by the time Act Two kicks in. Not that I doubt your children’s intelligence, but Act Two deals with realities that they won’t be able to appreciate. They’ll start making whimpering noises, squirming in their seats, and demanding that their parents take them to the bathroom — all of which is bound to distract, irritate, and ultimately piss off noise-sensitive, children-hating theatergoers such as myself.

Overall, Into the Woods is a very intelligent production that deals with highly complex themes on life, love, friendship, betrayal, and greed. The intricate fashion in which every character’s fears and desires overlap and get woven together into one narrative is bound to keep you more than just entertained. Just like any excellent fairy tale retelling, Into the Woods makes you think about life, the necessity of going “into the woods” to make things right, and other important stuff as the events after happily-ever-after unfold.

For show dates, ticket reservations, and other questions, check out The Bachelor Girl.