“D’ Wonder Twins of Boac” is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night set in the 1960s, the so-called Golden Age of Philippine Cinema. Twins Viola and Bastian, having ambitions to make it big as movie stars, leave their hometown of Boac, Marinduque but experience a shipwreck and become separated at sea. Believing that her twin may have died at sea, Viola disguises herself as Bastian (now Cesar) all in pursuit of her aspirations, but not without stumbling upon and setting into motion a series of confused emotions and mistaken identities.
Writing and Adaptation:
Rody Vera
Direction:
Maribel Legarda
Music:
Jeff Hernandez
Choreography:
Carlon Matobato
Set Design:
Lex Marcos
Costumes:
John Abul
Lighting:
Jonjon Villareal
Cast:
Photos courtesy of PETA.
Videos and Music
Cris Villonco (Viola/Cesar) along with some of the cast performs the song “Mahal Ko Siya” in this interview on ANC.
Reviews
Shakespeare goes showbiz in PETA musical
by Vladimir Bunoan | ABS-CBNnews.com
From Jeff Hernandez’s period-sounding pop songs to John Abul’s kitschy costumes and Carlon Matobato’s cheesy choreography, “Wonder Twins” is a more cohesive – and ultimately more successful — presentation of a bygone showbiz era… – Bunoan
…with “Wonder Twins,” [Cris Villonco] really went the extra mile. As Cesar, she emitted a boyish innocence whose soft side didn’t come across as effeminate — or butch. And in her scenes with Orsino (played by Lex Marcos), Villonco showed a knack for physical comedy without being too broad. It’s a truly winning performance and one of the chief reasons why “Wonder Twins” worked so well. – Bunoan
In the golden age of Pinoy cinema with ‘D’ Wonder Twins of Boac’
by Ren V. Aguila | GMA News Online
…for me, what resonated more was the message that our sense of forgetting has, as the saying goes, forced us to repeat it. Just as the film “Shakespeare in Love” was Tom Stoppard’s way of talking about contemporary Hollywood in terms of the Elizabethan era, this play smacks with the sharp tang of recognition.The Philippine studio system has not died yet. It has merely taken a different shape after a long absence.There may be a need for plays like “D’ Wonder Twins of Boac” to help us understand that our task of remembering is to make us think of a different future. It is a future where the cycles of the past are broken in favor of a cinema that both inspires and entertains, and challenges our presumptions about the way things are. To make us remember is a challenge this play has taken on, and in my view, it could serve this purpose. – Aguila
And tenderness ultimately is this adaptation’s casualty. If D’Wonder Twins of Boac feels less like Twelfth Night than a diminished version of it, that’s because it nails the farce but tosses out the humanity. In place of Shakespeare’s warm heart speckled with autumnal melancholy we find, despite all the laughter provoked, a cold winter wind. I suppose that was presaged from the start, when the script swapped out love and put in fame as the object of the character’s deepest desires. (“Gusto mo bang sumikat?” is the question that stops people in their tracks.) This pale wonder twin of a play turns Twelfth Night’s set of oddballs into a gallery of grotesques, signaled most clearly by the pestilence of pompadours that infects it. (Even the cast’s headshots in the souvenir program are Photoshopped with wigs.) The hairpieces, not to mention all the patent leather shoes and the garish colors of the costumes, are visually emblematic of the way the characters are reduced to their surfaces. By this calculus Viola and Bastian never had a chance; they’re merely the latest meat for the grinder (of both the movie industry and the plot).
This adaptation cleverly contrasts Viola’s transition to a eunuch with the overly sexual persona of an Elvis impersonator while injecting fun ’50s dance moves and original musical numbers. Another interesting transition is Countess Olivia becoming a Doña Olivia, paying homage to an erstwhile LVN’s Doña Sisa. And while Shakespeare was no stranger to the sexual innuendo, we are treated with an almost slapstick performance by Viola who repeatedly finds herself repelling unwanted advances from both sexes. The ending is most fitting for our nation’s story that brings the experience truly home. – Barballo
“Now that we’re going through rehearsals, I am getting into the flow of things. I’m trying to roughen up my Tagalog and trying to acquire an accent to make it authentic. Strangely enough, I have relatives from Marinduque and I am related to the people who used to be involved in LVN (now BLV in the play). It’s now more about research, of how different celebrities were like at that time, and also just the manners and language patterns.” – Cris Villonco
How Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ became the twilight of old Pinoy cinema
by Amadis Ma. Guerrero | Philippine Daily Inquirer
The play emerges as a wicked satire on the movie industry, with a lot of one-liners that went over big with the audience during the press preview. Any resemblance to real-life personalities is unintended (probably).- Guerrero
Tight, fun, lighthearted-PETA scores again with D Wonder Twins of Boac
by Walter Ang | Philippine Daily Inquirer
On top of the play’s original genderbending (with age-gap) love angles, Vera played up the homosexual undertones between Bastian and Antonio (Matobato alternating with Riki Benedicto), now both transformed into stunt men. Complete with a song number of their very own, the hidden homosexual desires of Antonio built on the theme of illusory/delusory identities and camouflaged feelings, while serving as a precursor to the adaptation’s final twist love matches.
Elsewhere
Shakespeare in the Philippines 