Part of the job of an actor is to watch a lot of theater. I give the play an 8 out of 10.
So I went to watch last production of Repertory Philippines, the number one English theater company of the Philippines.
I was glad to see it was a North American play instead of a British one coz I have a hard time understanding the British accent when I watch regularly to be sincere.
A British man who visited the Philippines told me that us Filipinos have a weird way of faking the British accent. He said we sound like Dick Van Dyke in Marry Poppins coz actors tend to imitate the accent of those days, which differs a lot from the accent of nowadays English citizens.
Not me tho, coz I can’t catch a British accent at all. I guess that’s why I’m normally type casted as I hear a thousand times. Happy playing my Spanish characters in Filipino films tho. Keep them coming.
I was happy also to see the theater packed with teenager students. Very cool. That means there’s interest among young people, there is hope for straight theater plays in Manila!
The play takes three hours and a half with intermissions, two of them. And you know what? It didn’t seem too long nor I fell asleep even when I went being sleepy.
I still feel it’s weird to watch straight plays with microphones used. I wish the actors could just project their voices and fill up the theater in the natural traditional theater acting way. Coz you know? The acting is different this way. The delivery is theatrical, which differs from TV acting.
I guess there’s not enough actors in the Philippines with enough training to project their voices for theater. Coz I encountered a lot during these two years and a half working here that act with small voices or even whisper in theater as they do in life or screen acting. So I guess directors don’t really miss the projection.
Acting was fantastic. And the stage design by Miguel Faustmann is super realistic and pleasant to see.
Some actors smoke on stage real cigarettes while others have electronic cigars, which is a weird contrast. I propose direction decides one only way for all.
And there was an actor, Richard Cunanan, who I didn’t know and did a fantastic job. Just thought it might be a miss cast coz he is supposed to be at least 60 years old, but seems he’s 30-40. Think it’s a director’s decision tho not to age him probably. A little weird. And I repeat, great believable acting.
A very intense play, a lot of conflicts, tension, I almost even cried with some interpretations from the actors who were concentrated and kept the character intense almost all the time.
A pool of experienced actors really.
Thankful to see Pinky Amador back on the stage of Rep after 7 years of absence.
Do I recommend it? Yes. Go watch it. And soon you’ll be ablle to compare it with the screen version with Merryl Streep.
