MANILA, Philippines - If a play is the fruit of a playwright?s labor, then collaborators like directors, actors, set designers and costume designers are the ones who tend and nurture the text into full bloom.

In this year?s Virgin Labfest, the artistic collaboration of these various disciplines have produced four main sets of three one-acts that were staged at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, providing audiences with a veritable orchard of subject matters. A separate set was dedicated to children?s plays adapted from published stories, while another set had three plays from last year?s fest.

Though we were able to interview festival artistic director Rody Vera before the fest?s opening, no details on staging were provided except for the lineup and synopsis for each play. And there lies the fun and excitement of the Labfest, you truly never know what you?re going to get.

With these many productions, audiences were treated to some that were a little raw, others choice picks, still others that were run-of-the-mill. Some showed the strain under their own weight. Then there were a few bad apples.
Pruning incest

Layeta Bucoy once again tackles her obsession with incest between siblings in ?Las Mentiras de Gloria.? Bucoy was fortunate that her entry last year, ?Ellas Innocentes,? was chosen for restaging. Unfortunately, for those who got to watch both her plays, it became clear ?Las Mentiras? was essentially the same banana.

Which is not to say that ?Las Mentiras? was not a strong piece, given its tight dialogue, intrinsic rhythm and Tuxqs Rutaquio?s sensitive direction. It did have a stray branch that needed clipping in the sorely miscast Bart Guingona as a working-class grunt. Guingona bravely struggled with the Tagalog lines but ultimately was not able to project the bearing crucial to his character.
Too long, too adult
Njel de Mesa?s use of glow-in-the-dark costumes, props and puppets as a device to push his adaptation of ?Terangati? (under his own direction) worked well, but the material suffered an overly long overture and music that sounded too adult and heavy for a children?s musical.

Koh Jun Eiow?s ?Ang Dalawa Niyang Libing,? translated by Terrence Co and directed by Leo Rialp, was an engaging clash of culture and religion. Rialp was able to add colorful theatrical touches with background scenes to add to his mise en scène as well as the use of a newspaper-reading, gossip-mongering Greek chorus. However, the story felt rushed for its one-hour running time and yearned to be threshed out into a two-act play.

Both ?Terengati?s? and ?Dalawa?s? stagings were overscaled and busy for the standard small-stage size used for all labfest productions, but should work better in larger venues.

Fresh air

Argel Tuazon?s adaptation of ?Bru-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, Bru-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi? directed by Mayen Estañero and Job Pagsibigan?s adaptation of ?Uuwi Na ang Nanay Kong si Darna? directed by Catherine Racsag were a breath of fresh air and earnest energy.

In ?Bru-ha,? plucky Bea Sarah Angoba played a girl who thought her neighbor was a witch. Coaching her to add variety to her delivery of lines would complement her charming confidence and talent. Estañero?s use of a roving cameraman and live broadcast screen in the story?s TV game-show scene was a clever element to add excitement and fun for audiences.

Poignant

Many adults in the audience of ?Uuwi Na? were moved to tears by the the story?s poignancy. A wise move by Racsag was to balance her otherwise fun and funky interpretation of the Filipino Everywoman. Further development will make these two children?s plays blossom to their full potential.

Ripe for the picking

Hase Hiroichi?s ?Amoy ng Langit? provided a sweet, relaxed and genteel viewing experience with strong acting from its ensemble cast, which interchangeably used Nihonggo, Tagalog and English to tell the story of schoolgirls and their encounter with one of the girls? sister?s ghost.

Fans of animé, especially those featuring schoolgirls in everyday non-eventful situations like ?Kamichu (Gradeschool Goddess),? ?Ichigo Mashimaru (Strawberries and Marshmallows),? and ?Paradise Kiss,? will surely appreciate the acting and pacing conventions employed by director Toshihisha Yoshida (such as the girls contentedly sighing loudly while reveling in the fact that ?The sky is so blue!? and that talking to ghosts seem like the most normal thing in the world) that are so characteristic of Japanese animation.

Despite the cultural quirks, because it did not try to be anything else other than what it was, Amoy?s sincere and unassuming staging was a pleasure to watch.

Sharp, witty

Rogelio Braga?s ?Ang Bayot, ang Meranao, at ang Habal-Habal sa Isang Nakababagot na Paghihintay sa Kanto ng Lanao del Norte,? directed by Nick Olanka, offered sharp and witty dialogue in a tightly packed and slick conversation. Repartee zipped merrily along between actors Joey Paras and Arnold Reyes, as they played an odd couple who offered enlightening and insightful points on the many guises of discrimination: political, geographical, religious, workplace-related, gender or otherwise.

Hilarious and never preachy, ?Ang Bayot? deserves a run that should be as long as, or longer than, its title. Hopefully, itinerant actor Paras will stay in Manila long enough to be recast in order to preserve the great timing he and Reyes share.

Imeldific vision

Floy Quintos? ?Ang Kalungkutan ng Mga Reyna? (under his own direction) presents a strong argument for a possible solution to our country?s ills: Would we be better off as a monarchy? He gives us a lady President who becomes the Philippines? first queen, and her conversations with a hairdresser on matters of taste (not state).

Sharmaine Buencamino was brilliant as Quintos? beautifully written character. Wisely steering clear of aping known female presidents, Buencamino imbued Queen Yolanda with a roiling hysteria kept under a veil of iron will.

Rutaquio, as the deadpan and sarcastic hairdresser, was the perfect foil to the queen?s ravings. Through his eventual acquiescence to her desires, we saw that underneath the queen?s delusional ambition, Quintos? lines and Buencamino?s interpretation effectively showed her sincere and burning desire to uplift the country. Surreal, funny and full-to-the-bite with strong writing and strong acting, this production was hands down the best of the bunch.

A ?durian? for everyone

Which brings us to the one fruit that casts a decisive opinion. People either love or hate the durian, and in the same vein it was impossible to have an in-between reaction to Allan Lopez?s ?Masaganang Ekonomiya? directed by Victor Villareal.

The story features an interrogator and his captive. It features elements such as a female actor playing the interrogator with a tumescent phallus sticking out of her groin, and constant interruptions to the exposition as the interrogator goes into trances whenever he?s possessed by a dyslexic horse.

Less performance than it was performance art with dialogue, as the production assaulted audiences? patience and sensibilities, it also challenged notions of what theater should or could be. Unapologetic in its strangeness and definitely thought-provoking, it could not be described any other way except as exciting, trite, avant-garde, yawn-inducing, awesome and irritating all at the same time. It was either the Labfest?s worst production, or its best.

E-mail the author at waltzang@yahoo.com