SUMMARY
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We live in absurd times. Bad things happen to good people despite all the mercy they ask from an all-powerful deity who created everything, including their problems. We want what we can’t have and desire what hurts us.
For today’s generation, every story that tries to make sense of things with a moral lesson or with a neat little ending that ties everything together seems unrealistic, escapist, contrived, and propagandistic.
Any attempt at rationalizing why and how things are, upon rigorous examination, ends in fallacy.
More and more, people see the meaning of life as not something to find, but rather something to make. Many recognize that the deities they pray to and the devils they cuss with are the reflections of their own hopes and fears. Instead of being bribed by heaven or threatened with hell, they see morality as doing the good without reward or coercion. Instead of sacrificing this life for the afterlife, they live their lives to the fullest with the time they have today. And the stories that resonate with today’s generation reflect these sentiments and celebrate them.
The Imaginarium, a multi-arts festival of the absurd by The Sandbox Collective, selects some of the best works in theater, cinema, dance, music, spoken word, visual arts, and, yes, even food (an inclusion that seemingly makes no sense, befittingly), and showcases them from October 28 to 31 at the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) Theater Center, No. 5 Eymard Drive, New Manila.
Here are some of the festival’s many offerings that include re-stagings and re-showings of some the best recent works and performances, as well as new ones by some of today’s most highly regarded arts groups.
Thankfully, quite a number of these I have seen previously and can vouch for as must-sees:
The Sandbox Collective’s own production of Dani Girl, first staged earlier this year at the RCBC Theater last July, will once again run, this time at the PETA theater from October 28 to 31.
This 21st century off-Broadway musicale from the award-winning musical theater writing tandem of Michael Kooman and Christopher Diamond tells the story of nine-year-old Dani Lyons’ battle with leukemia.
As performed by this ensemble last July, it was a flawless and absolutely endearing production that did justice to Kooman and Diamond’s brilliant musical. Reb Atadero (as the angel Ralph) is a chameleon who effortlessly switches roles, all of whom reflects Dani’s hopes and fears. As Dani Lyons, Rebecca Coates shines bright with her crystalline singing voice and acting. The musical’s exploration of mortality though a child’s eyes is thought provoking yet uplifting. And it sure doesn’t hurt to have a teddy bear descend from the ceiling during musical numbers.
Ang Nawawala
Ang Nawawala (What Isn’t There) Official Theatrical Trailer from Marie Jamora on Vimeo.
Acclaimed music video director Marie Jamora’s full length feature film won the Audience Choice and Best Original Music Score awards at the 2012 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. And the people were right. It was the best Filipino film I watched that year.
Unpretentiously cool, it captures the zeitgeist of Manila’s hipster scene without even trying. But as cool as the music (Outerhope, Ciudad, Ang Bandang Shirley, Flying Ipis, Sandwich, etc.) and the setting (vinyl record hunting at Cubao X, listening to live bands at The Collective, etc.) may be, the film focuses squarely on the story: Gibson Bonifacio (Dominic Roco), who stopped speaking as a child ever since his twin brother died, returns to Manila to be with his family (Dawn Zulueta as mother Esme, Boboy Garovillo as father Wes, and Jenny Jamora as sister Corey) for the holidays.
He meets Enid del Mundo (Annicka Dolonius) and together they explore the hipster scene even as they fall for each other. And when there’s no one around, Gibson converses with his dead twin brother Jamie (Felix Roco) who is all grown up like he is.
What makes Ang Nawawala (What Isn’t There) an excellent film is its delicate storytelling, its honest portrayals of believable characters, and its restraint. In contrast to many other indie films, there is nothing indulgent in Jamora’s work. Though the movie has an impressive soundtrack, it is its quiet moments of acting without dialogue that shine brightest. The brevity and depth of the film speaks highly of Jamora’s maturity as a film maker.
Her selection of Roco and Dolonius for her main characters is spot on as the two have genuine on-screen chemistry and are in their element, given the movie’s milieu. Casting the Roco brothers for the roles of the twins was a stroke genius. Ang Nawawala isn’t just a good indie film; it’s a great film, indie or not.
Ang Nawawala screens once again on October 29.
The Maids
In August last year, I watched MusicArtes Inc. stage Jean Genet’s 1947 gender-bending straight play The Maids (Les Bonnes) based upon a heinous crime in 1933 when sisters and fellow maids Lea and Christine Papin bludgeoned their mistress and her daughter to death and gouged their eyes out in Le Mans, France. The Papin sisters, who insisted that they work together whenever possible, were found naked in bed together by the police.
Genet himself was a convicted thief sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple offenses, saved only pleas of pardon from the likes of fellow existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre and cubist painter Pablo Picasso.
The play staged last year was under the direction of Anton Juan and stared Juan himself and Topper Fabregas as Solange and Claire, respectively, the two housemaids who indulge is sadomasochistic role-play and take turns impersonating their Madame while she is away.
Playing the role of Madame, a vain and imperious character whose criminal lover has been sent away by a suspiciously anonymous tip from her own maids, were some of Philippine theater’s most talented actors: Jay Valencia Glorioso, Jenny Jamora, Meryll Soriano, Liza Dino, Joel Serracho, OJ Mariano, Peter Serrano, and Gwyn Guanzon.
As performed then, the play was powerful and riveting, with simmering and explosive from Juan, Fabregas, and Glorioso.
Staged without intermission and running for over an hour, The Maids is a dark intense experience that is worth watching for its stellar performances. Juan, Fabregas, and Serracho reprise their respective roles on October 28.
Dysmorphilia
I saw the contemporary dance piece Dysmorphilia by the highly regraded Daloy Dance Company for the first time at the festival press conference and I was impressed. Contemporary dance (unlike classical and neoclassical ballet that uses pantomime to tell its story) creates a new vocabulary of dance that is appropriate for the dance piece.
With Dysmorphilia, it is the language of insecurity where a male dancer is emasculated and overly conscious of preponderance of nipples all over his body. In absolute contrast, a female model with an asymmetrical carbuncle of muscles on one of her legs and arms moves with exaggerated machismo.
The prosthetics for the freakish body parts were crafted by none other than acclaimed sculptor and costume designer Leeroy New.
Dysmorphilia runs on October 31.
Kai Honasan
When I first heard Kai Honasan’s single “Tongue Tied” on the radio months ago, I was struck by the clarity with which she sang and plucked her ukelele with.
Tongue Tied by Kai Honasan from Jason Magbanua on Vimeo.
It’s a cute and infectious pop ditty that free from pretentious angst. At the press conference for the upcoming The Imaginarium festival, she sang a few more of her compositions, confirming her knack at penning and performing pop songs.
There seems to be nothing absurdist about Honasan’s music. But its inclusion in the festival arguably is. Regardless, it is fun and entertaining.
Kai Honasan performs with Three.! on October 31.
The Boy in the Bathroom
Another excellent performance held at the press conference included an excerpt from The Sandbox Collective’s staging of Michael Lluberes and Joe Maloney’s 2011 musicale The Boy in the Bathroom starring Topper Fabregas, Caisa Borromeo, and Sheila Francisco about a boy who looks himself in the bathroom for a year, eating only what his mother can slide under the door. They performed song “Walking on the Moon” to the delight of all who were present.
The Boy in the Bathroom is set to run on October 30 and 31.
Many more:
The festival also includes:
Theater
- The Sandbox Collective’s The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams’s play starring Jay Glorioso, Nelsito Gomez, Justine Peña, and JC Santos, on October 28 and 29.
- MusicArtes Inc.’s Taong Grasa (Grease Man), a dramatic monologue staring Lou Veloso and directed by Anton Juan, on October 28.
- Ejay Yatco’s Real-life Fairytales: A Song Cycle, a musical theater piece about extraordinary realities encountered by otherwise ordinary people, on October 28 and 30.
- Niki Calma’s Katabi, a play directed by Emmanuel Dela Cruz about a man and a woman separated by a wall, the former is locked inside while the latter is free to go elsewhere, on October 28 and 30.
- Guelan Luarca’s Mga Kuneho, about five men hired to transfer a loaded body bag, who then find themselves trapped in a metal room and are forced to fight each other for survival, on October 28 and 30.
- Christian Dagsil and Project Mayhem Productions’ Over My Dead Body, a comedy of errors about three domestic helpers who snoop around and discover their employer’s criminal activities, only to end up doing it themselves, on October 31.
- Fitz Edward Bitana and Project Mayhem Productions’ On Your Last Legs, an exploration of existential questions, on October 31.
- Kolab Co’s Mourning Gurlz, a reinterpretation of Wilfrido Maria Guerrero’s Eye of a Needle that caricatures Manila’s elite, on October 29 and 31.
- Black Canvas’ I, Label, about two people trapped in strangers’ bodies, on October 29.
- Sipat Lawin Ensemble’s The Return of the Comeback of the New and Improved Newly Scented Haring +Ubu-L! Now in 6-D!, an adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s 1896 Ubu Roi, itself an bizarre and absurdist reinterpretation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, on October 31.
- The Sandbox Collective’s The Pillowman, a staging of Martin McDonagh’s Tony award-winning play about a writer being interrogated by detectives for the suspicious similarity of his works of fiction to real life murders, directed by Ed Lacson Jr. and featuring Audie Gemora, Niccolo Manhan, Richard Cunanan, and Robie Zialcita, on October 29.
Film
- Gino M. Santos’ #Y, about a group of friends who cope with the suicide of one of them staring Elmo Magalona, Coleen Garcia, Sophie Albert, Kit Thompson, Slater Young and Chynna Ortaleza, on October 28.
- Raya Martin’s La Ultima Pelicula, about a filmmaker who travels to Yucatan for his last film staring Alex Ross Perry, Gabino Rodríguez and Iazua Larios, on October 30.
- Sigrid Andrea Bernardo’s Huling Cha Cha ni Juanita, about a 12-year-old tomboy’s infatuation for the new resident in town, on October 30.
- Bianca Catabagan’s Letters to the Future, about what we would ask of our future selves, on October 31.
- Robbie Guevara’s Master Vader, a short film on a man’s nocturnal habits and self abuse, replete with comedic Star Wars references, on October 31.
Visual arts
- Leeroy New and Dex Fernandez’s exhibit, from October 28 to 31.
Music
- Wilderness and Chocolate Grass’ performance of post-rock, soul, and flow on October 31.
- Sipat Lawin Ensemble’s performance of beki-metal and experimental theater, on October 31.
- Moonwlk and The Strangeness alternative music performance on October 29.
Food and beverage
- Trailblazers: A Culinary Throwdown, on October 29.
For tickets and inquiries, call 585-6909 or 0917-8996680, Ticketworld at 891-9999, or visit thesandboxcollective.com.
Unless otherwise indicated, all photos courtesy of The Sandbox Collective
About the author: Writer, graphic designer, and business owner Rome Jorge is passionate about the arts. Formerly the Editor-in-Chief of asianTraveler Magazine, Lifestyle Editor of The Manila Times, and cover story writer for MEGA and Lifestyle Asia Magazines, Rome Jorge has also covered terror attacks, military mutinies, mass demonstrations as well as Reproductive Health, gender equality, climate change, HIV/AIDS and other important issues. He is also the proprietor of Strawberry Jams Music Studio.
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