Adaption and Direction by Tony Mabesa
Translation by Nicolas Pichay
Cast
Reviews
This Asian ‘Lear’ gets caught in no man’s land
Exie Abola | Philippine Daily Inqurier
Leo Rialp’s Lear is a kind but naïve uncle, with the gravity of royalty but without the capacity for holy rage the role requires. His gaunt face, increasingly haunted by regret as his suffering grows, given whiskers and dark patches to resemble Hidetora Ichimonji, the protagonist of Kurosawa’s film adaptation, is the window through which we glimpse the interior terrain of his despair.
Joel Lamangan’s Haring Lear veers in another direction, dispensing with any sense of regal propriety. With head hung askew, jaw hanging open, he spews his curses at his cruel daughters with the coarseness of a commoner who has lucked his way to the crown. Unlike Rialp, Lamangan’s transformation from king to madman is all action: stooped shoulders, furrowed brows, hands clutching at his pate, and yelps and squawks.
Designing and dressing up Dulaang UP’s Southeast Asian ‘Lear’
Walter Ang | Philippine Daily Inquirer
“What automatically came to me was the ruins of Angkor Wat, complete with the gigantic roots of balete trees,” says David. His design, based on research using different books from the UP Library, was constructed by 20 students assisted and guided by four professional carpenters. DUP is under the university’s Department of Speech Communication and Theater Arts, which offers certificate and degree programs in Theater Arts. Pineda points out that the reality of designing for a campus-based theater group is “the very limited budget. Hence, Ohm and I agreed not to interpret the period and setting in a literal sense.”
Review of Dulaang UP’s HARING LEAR: Campy and Colorful
Fred Hawson
I could not help comparing this production with the one by PETA staged 2012, just three years ago. The Filipino translation staged then was by Bienvenido Lumbera and the show was directed by Nonon Padilla. That version with an all-bald, all-black, all-male cast was much darker, more intense and very serious. It also had a real thunderstorm with water right there on the stage! However, this DUP production had its own charm by being the naughtily campier and more vibrantly colorful version.
Jun Austria | Adobo Magazine
Mabesa’s treatment of King Lear stayed true to the text of Shakespeare. But he brought this ancient text into contemporary light. In the end, he provokes us into thinking about how we treat the elderly in our present society wherein the Confucian ethics of filial piety is constantly challenged by being part of the global village. He also asks us to consider loyalty and good governance in today’s political disorder and dysfunction, specially during this season of elections.
Elsewhere
https://www.instagram.com/p/6PhwXJB_TV
Photos
Photos by Vlad Gonzales [1] [2]
Photos by Jaypee Maristaza [1]
Shakespeare in the Philippines 