On The Twelfth Night of December

Shakespeare has never failed to amaze me when it comes to literature. One the night of March 8 2013, I once again witness Shakespeare’s work through the actions of the third year ABEO students in the ABEO playhouse presentation. The title of the spectacular play was the “Twelfth Night”.

            Twelfth night is about girl who disguised herself as a man. With the loss of her brother, Sebastian, She disguised herself in order to be in Orsino’s court in which she succeeded in time. She then fell in love with Orsino. But Orsino was in love with Olivia, a beautiful rich girl. So Viola, disguised as Cesario, went to see Olivia upon Orsino’s orders. After 2 visits, Olivia became drawn to Cesario and in time, fell in love with him. But that is just first part of the play. It actually has three parts. The second part is the story of Sebastian. He survived the shipwreck and stayed with a guy named Antonio. After a while, he travels to the land where Orsino has been the ruler. He then later was accused and mistaken by Viola’s uncle, Sir Toby. But with Viola’s help, he was deemed innocent and later fell in love with Viola who mistaken him for Cesario. The last part of the story is about the revenge against Malvolio which is actually very funny. The maid wrote a fake letter which contained a fake signature to Malvolio. Malvolio believed that it was from his mistress, Viola whom he cherish a secret crush. Then he became more open about his love for and expressed it clearly. But his efforts were wasted when Viola continuously denied it.

            Overall, the play was great. The actors and actresses did well with their roles. It was very funny and it became funnier with the unexpected wardrobe malfunction. I hope someday that we can experience the same funny and amazed feeling again. ABEO playhouse has always been a legacy and I hope we can continue that legacy.

New experience: The Grave Diggers

      

                The Grave diggers play is a new experience for me. Before the play, I was curious about why it was a distillation. Distillation is process in which something that can be extracts volatile components in order to obtain something pure. In literature, all the unnecessary components were extracted out and a play in its purest form was produced.  Although it may not be understood at first, but as the story progressed, the audience can begin to understand on what was the play all about.

                From what I have understood, the play was about a grave digger who was having second thoughts of what he was doing. But because of the current state of his wife who is sick with tuberculosis, he was forced to dig graves. They dig graves in order to get the jewels and gold of the dead. Augustine was the name of the grave digger. His fellow grave digger was telling him the benefits of grave digging and at the same time, trying to push him to open a barber shop. Augustine was afraid of disrespecting the dead but his fellow grave digger gave no importance. When two more grave diggers came, they drank to the fullest. They disrespect the graves of the dead and tried to force Augustine to do the same. But Augustine stood his ground and left for the reason that the dead should not be disrespected.

                I was amazed by the play. It was the first time I watched a distillation play and witnessed the purity of the story that was written by a Filipino writer. Like many others, I did not understand the play at first. It would have been a better play if I can understand what the actors were trying to say. I did not understand the purpose of the ghosts that stood by the side. But as the play progressed, I was surprised by the progress. By the end of the play, I clearly understood the play. It was a fun night and it was a good play. I hope I can still watch and enjoy more plays like this in the future. It was a great new experience and I hope many can enjoy the play like this.

IPAG: Three People in One Island

   For the past five years, the International Performing Arts Guild or IPAG has presented so many unique and great plays.  Each one of them never fail to surprise me. Great talent of every member has been put into good use. Comedy, Romance, Action and Drama are all present in each play. The performers gave their best to entertain their audience and not once did they fail. In every play they presented, there is always a message behind the story. A tear behind the smile of a character that has been portrayed well. This year, IPAG has presented another great play that has reflected the culture of our great island, Mindanao. A play that showed a message that we should understand in order to live a life where the future of our children lives happily and freely.

  "Tatlo sa Isa" is the title of the play. It is about the three cultures that live together in one big island. These Cultures are the Christian culture, the Islam culture and the Lumad culture. Three very unique cultures all lived in one big island and they exist peacefully. In the play, IPAG showed that even though they have differences, they can still exist and live together peacefully. They portrayed the cultures as they danced. They also show different types of courtship dance. They also show a great story about a bird and a lady which gave us a message about how we should take care of the environment. Many stunts and dances were made and never failed to surprised it audience. They even made the audience laugh with the comedy they portrayed using the old song that talks about a fisherman. It even made the girls of the audience happy by showing a poster of a famous teenage artist. All in all, It was a very creative and great play.

Though truthfully I did not really enjoy the play well but that is because of the attitude of the audience. This play was presented beautifully. But a group of people kept shouting words that were very inappropriate. But aside from that, this play made my money's worth. I truly hope IPAG will continue to give us a great and educational play. They are a big help in promoting our culture not only nationwide but also internationally. I also hope that young people would take interest in this great production and would not hesitate to join IPAG.

That is why I pray the IPAG will continue to live on not only to give the people entertainment but also give us a message and promotion about the culture that should have been appreciated. 

The Culture of Mindanao :)

RIN