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SYNOPSIS OF PLAYS
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME:
Lithuanian National Drama Theatre (Birute Mar theatre group)
TITLE OF PRODUCTION: LAST
NIGHT 1 by Mohammad Saeed Al
Dhanhani
COUNTRY: Lithuania
Synopsis /Description:
Last
Night is a play written by contemporary Arabian writer, and It’s touching the
problems of women’s emancipation, freedom, and democracy of life, which is
still ignored in many parts of the world.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME:
Latefa Ahrrare(dibba
theatre & theatre des amis)
TITLE OF PRODUCTION: LAST
NIGHT 2
COUNTRY: Morocco
Synopsis /Description:
Maryam,
the young girl from the rich family, has everything she needs - everything what
thers do not: money, a house, expensive clothes… But she feels being the
most unhappy and lonely person in the world – her father doesn’t
allow her to marry. The reason is that Maryam resembles to him his dead wife,
Maryam’s mother. Lonely Maryam has just her beautiful dreams…
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME: ANTON JUAN
TITLE OF PRODUCTION: "SHADOWS OF THE REEF"
COUNTRY: Philippines
Synopsis /Description:
I begin with the memory of nails – of a people
nailed to years of colonization, corruption, and torn apart left and right,
above and below by historical, political, and cultural schisms. This is the
dramatic space I work in, both as playwright and director. The world order of
power from above and social forces and victims from below tugging at one another
is the physical space of the theatre where physically, I wish to articulate and
speak of realities that may not be known at all to the world. I speak of women
and mothers who are forced to lose their sons to illegal trawler fishing, sons
dragged by the nets beneath the sea; of a land devastated by illegal logging and
ecological destruction that there is only the tuber crop of death to dig; but of
a people of profound faith where salvation can mean playing being nailed to the
cross.
The approach to the subject matter of the play is
through the surfaces of memories and signs.
Events signal historicity only when we are able to remember them,
register them, and flash them urgently, thus printing them in the minds and
hearts of audiences. Cultures have their own way of breathing, of pulse, of
inner spaces. The cast is learning about their own ranges of breathing and
movement in order to express the inner spaces involved with memory.
In effect, they begin to go beyond their normal, suppressed limits of
emotions and learn to reach the true “edge” of memory.
The play is a shared experience of the traditions and
life of an unknown culture and abandoned sea villages.
The production presents insights into social and cultural elements of
religion, ritual, community, family, and the rites of survival.
The play questions the abuse of children involved in illegal fishing, and
digs into religious expressions of suffering and the price of human salvation.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY
NAME
DHAKA THEATRE
TITLE
OF PRODUCTION: BINODINI
COUNTRY:
BANGLADESH
NAME
DESIGNATION
NASIR UDDIN YOUSUFF
DIRECTOR
SHIMUL YOUSUF
ACTRESS
ISRAT NISAT
LIGHT DESIGNER
MATIUS_ SHAMS
SIGNER
A.H.M MAHMUDUR RAHMAN_
MUSICIAN
CHOUDHURY RASHIDUL ALAM
MUSICIAN
SHIEKH_HARUN
STAGE CREW
ESHA YOUSUF
STAGE CREW
Synopsis /Description:
The
prologue is written by Selim Al Deen. Through her narrative, the performer is
invoking the spirit of Binodini, an actress of the Bangla stage between
1874-1883. As the autobiographical drama unfolds, through her performance, the
actress gradually assumes Binodini’s identity. She shares her hopes, dreams,
betrayals, despairs and most importantly, her struggles.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY
NAME: COCI (ASEAN)
TITLE OF PRODUCTION: REALIZING
RAMA
COUNTRY: Brunei Derussalam, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
List of Artistic and Prod Staff:
ARTISTS:
Saadiah
Binti Haji Yahya,
Synopsis /Description:
Is
a full length contemporary dance production in two acts which is based on the
Asian epic Ramayana. It was
premiered at the Hanoi Opera Theatre in December 1998 as a flagship project of
the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY
NAME: CIA. DRAGON DEL BUTOH
TITLE OF PRODUCTION: ANIMAL
REVOLUTION (duration: 40
minutes)
COUNTRY: MEXICO
List of Actors and Production Staff coming to Manila:
NAME (Indicate Sex)
DESIGNATION
2.
YANET LUPERCIO
PRODUCER / STAFF
3.
OSCAR OJEDA
BODY PAINTING /STAFF
4.
JAVIER POSADAS
STAFF MANAGER
Description/Synopsis
of the Production:
ANIMAL
REVOLUTION PRESENTS THE BEGINNING OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE MAN, GOING THROUGH
SEVERAL ANIMALS: BIRDS, REPTILES AND INSECTS THAT LIVE IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT,
UNTIL THEY ARE INVADED BY THE MAN, CAUSING A PITCHED BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL.
IN THE END WE WILL SEE HOW THE FUSION OF BOTH WILL TURN THE INTERPRETER
INTO A UNIQUE BEING IN THE PLANET…
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY
NAME: DRAMATIS PERSONAE
TITLE
OF PRODUCTION: SHOOTING
THE BOYS
COUNTRY: PHILIPPINES
CONTACT
PERSON: LITO
CASAJE
·
List of Actors
and Production Staff coming to Manila:
NAME (Indicate Sex)
DESIGNATION
________________________________________________________________
Company
Name: VISAYAS THEATRE NETWORK
Title Of
Production:
PANAKAYON
SA PALANUBLION
Country:
PHILIPPINES
Description/Synopsis of the Production:
Panakayon
sa Paranublion depicts the symbolic journey of a young man from cultural
alienation and estrangement to recognition and acceptance of his cultural
traditions. Growing up with no one to orient him in the ways of his native
culture, his mother being deceased and his father an OFW, the boy Eric imbibes
Western cultural practices using punk and rock even in the thing that he loves
to do most – his music.
Introduced by his grandmother to what is native, he rejects it and chooses to
join his friends
in a pleasure trip. Thus begins the journey that takes Eric to different islands
symbolic of negative cultural conditions. Guided only by the spirit of his dead
mother (papu), which represents cultural traditions, he comes out of his
immersion in wine
and sex
in the Island of Pleasure, his fascination for computer
games
and gambling
and bout with drugs
in the Island of Prosperity, his scrape with fanatical and lawless elements in
the Island of Subversion – all in the process of which he learns that there is
no way he can escape his cultural identity. Together with other artistically
gifted children, he gets educated in the ways of his culture in the Island of
Hope /Mirrors and returns to his grandmother’s home
at peace with himself and his social environment having finally discovered and
accepted his cultural identity.
________________________________________________________________
TITLE
OF PRODUCTION:
Three Sisters in distress
COUNTRY:
BURKINA FASO
Description/Synopsis
of the Production:
Le moyen de cette rencontre : le théâtre !
Le thème de cette rencontre : la condition
des femmes !
Un meneur de jeu, Joé l’artiste ;
Une fête chez un Chef de village ;
Pour dénoncer les viols et les exactions d’un
homme et de son complice, Joé l’artiste met en scène l’histoire de trois
femmes : Nopoko, Suzanne, et Azara ;
-du théâtre dans le théâtre- !
Les scènes et le monologues se succèdent, présentant :
- le viol des fillettes, viol dont ‘il ne faut
pas parler’, car les violeurs sont ou grands sages, ou catéchiste, ou riches
ou dignitaires.
- la vie recluse de ces jeunes filles qui sont
dans l’impossibilité matérielle de fréquenter l’école primaire et de
poursuivre des études.
-
Le destin inéluctable de ces femmes qui consiste
à assouvir les besoins sexuels du mari ; assurer la descendance grâce à
de nombreuses maternités et surtout la naissance d’enfants de sexe masculin ;
cloîtrées, interdites de toutes relations sociales hors du ‘clan des
femmes’.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME:
NATIONAL THEATRE “IL CARAGIALE” OF BUCHAREST
TITLE OF PRODUCTION:
REGINA
MADRE (MATHER) by Manlio Santanelli
COUNTRY: Romania
Synopsis /Description:
Regina
Madre - A black comedy, a son
return home to his mother only to find himself embroid in a tragic- comic
psychic battle
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY
NAME:
The Voyage Project
TITLE OF PRODUCTION
The Voyage Project
COUNTRY
Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Poland. Israel, USA
Description/Synopsis of the
Production:
A company of actors from Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Poland. Israel and the
US explore the core theme, myth and metaphor of the "Journey", based
upon their personal and collective experiences amid the recent dramatic
upheavals in their countries and cultures
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME: LIA KARAVIA
TITLE OF PRODUCTION:
PRISON
COUNTRY: Greece
Synopsis /Description:
ONE-WOMAN PERFORMANCE. IMPISONED FIGHTING FOR A SANE MIND IN A SANE BODY,
TALKING WITH VARIOUS CHARACTERS SHE IMITATES
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME: Barasoain Kalinangan Foundation, Inc
Description/Synopsis of the Production:
Francis
B. was chosen by his teacher to act as Florante for their forthcoming school
play
“FLORANTE
AT LAURA” a novel that uses poetic narrative form called AWIT, rich with
allusion and figures of speech which effectively communicate moral and social
values. Awit carries the traditional characteristic of comedia, decorated with
colorful costumes and sets, enchanting movements, poetry and musical lines.
Francis
B. was chosen because the school knows that the father of Francis is related to
the clan of Francisco Baltazar (Balagtas). For some reasons, Francis B. could
not do justice to his role for the reason that… for him this novel and form is
obsolete, what he likes is a rap-type of music. However, he could not also just
set aside his promises to fulfill his late father’s wishes of becoming a
writer like his great-great grand father.
After
a very tiring rehearsal in school, he fell asleep and met Kiko (Balagtas) in his dream. Francis witnessed how
Kiko grew up into a fine man- as a an obedient son, a poet and a patriot.
Kiko
was born on the 2nd day of April 1788 in Panginay, Bigaa, Bulacan.
Kiko showed gifts of intelligence at the age of 12 which prompted his parents,
Juana dela Cruz and Juan Baltazar to send him to Manila to pursue education.
Kiko
met the famous poet Jose Dela Cruz a.k.a Huseng Sisiw, a name given by Kiko
because every time Kiko asked him to write a poem, the old man requested him to
repay him with a one-month-old chicken for his effort, instead of money. One
time, Huseng Sisiw refused to teach Kiko anymore for he failed to bring a chick.
This incident motivated Kiko to develop his own writing prowess by himself.
Kiko
spend a blissful life in Tondo where he was introduced and became known as a
poet in many occasions. Indeed, it was his sweet-poetic tongue that lured Maria
Asuncion Rivera of Pandacan, or better known as Selya. Kiko won Selya’s heart
but their love affair was ill-fated. Selya was forced by her parents to a
pre-arranged marriage to Mariano “Nanong” Capule, a son of a wealthy and
influential family. Kiko and Selya
tried to fight for their love but they failed. Capule’ father framed up Kiko
and was thrown behind the jail. It was there in the dimly prison cell that the
lyrical poetic novel “Florante at Laura” was born.
In
the poem, Florante was tied to a big fig tree and waiting for the hungry beasts
to devour him. But he was saved by his clan’s enemy, Aladdin, a Moorish prince
who was also thrown into the woods by his tyrannical father. As they were trying
to get out of the bizarre woods, they encountered Flerida (Alladin’s
sweetheart) and Laura (Florante’s fiancée) who were disguised as men and both
also escaped and killed the two villains--- Sultan Ali Adab (the heartless
father of Aladdin), and Adolfo (the power-hungry colleague of Florante). They
fought first but when they finally recognized each other, they embraced
fervently. They were set to a
double marriage ceremony.
The
parallelism between the fate of Kiko in real-life and the fate of Florante in
the famous lyric-poem “Florante at Laura” took the same route. Both were
victims of treachery, inequality, corruption and dirty politics. Like Kiko and
Selya’s, the story of Prince Florante and Princess Laura also had an ill-fated
love affair. But unlike the tragic ending of the former couple’s lovelife, the
latter led a “happy
-ever-after” ending of the story.
Back
to reality, Francis B was already a grown up actor who still played the lead
role Florante. During the curtain call, he was vindicated for delivering a good
performance.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME:
UP Center for International Studies
TITLE OF PRODUCTION:
The Coffee Shop
Within the Play (Unravel Noh)
COUNTRY:
Philippines, Japan
Description/Synopsis of the Production:
This
collaborative work between Filipinos and Japanese, who brought to training their
own cultures and ways of practicing theatre, promotes intercultural
communication. It made them more appreciative of their cultural similarities and
cognizant of their cultural differences. This responds to the UN Millenium Goal
of encouraging partnerships for development to protect cultural diversity.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME: New Project Group
TITLE OF PRODUCTION:
BORGES PROJECT
COUNTRY: Germany,
USA, Croatia,Philippines, Japan, Switzerland, Belgium:
Synopsis /Description:
The
Borges Project is a theatrical response to Jorge Luis Borges' short story,
"The Circular Ruins". The eight collaborating countries selected their
creative teams and approach to the work, tapping into their own distinctive
performance styles and cultural myths.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY
NAME: Albuga Theatre
TITLE
OF PRODUCTION: Spectacle between
Frontier
COUNTRY:
(Sudan)
CONTACT PERSON: Mr..Ali Mahdi
Synopsis /Description:
The theater
spectacle: Theatre Between Frontiers, on the text of the Good Person of Szechwan
by Brecht.
This
spectacle is the outcome of the international workshop that has been
recently, held in Stuttgart, Germany My Unknown Enemy during the period from 6Th
June to 11th July 2005 . within the festival of the World
Theatre . The workshop was under the direction of the German, well known
director: Alexander Stillmark . Mr. Ali Mahadi, adopted an spectacle depending
on the prologue, the arriving of the three Gods, to create two views that
compose two scenes out of the prologue's
notion, this made Ali asserts that the Sudanese theater doesn't have to reach it’s glorious artistic
achievements, unless it gets to expert what is actually existing in the
structure of the Sudanese culture in its wider scope. For that what we know very
well, is just what we look for What the spectacle looked for as a frame of
thinking related to the notion of theatre composition, and its relation to the
theatrical action, the choice of Brech text linked with the searching in the
context of creative expression that grant the ability of renewing and going
beyond.
Consequently, the spectacle performance, cons tract the intellectual
perception of this text, to create a comeliness scene leans on ration to bring
out beholding image as Ali mahadi fell
in love with Ibn Arabi saying : Each
Thought that doesn’t create a
seeing image, doesn’t trusted in.
When theatre is a playing and spectacle, depend on the notion of
imitating live, so it is aesthetical style to be a symbol for the world vision,
then the philosophy and the tradition of
the theatre composition in the presence of spectacle links with the composer,
not the director. So the notion of creating and establishing a method of theater
composition is outcome of the necessarily awareness to find out playing space,
not for instructing, because it has been linked with the idea of renewing as
Eugino Barba said : ( To find out a school of renewing theater )
so the spectacle / the workshop, depended on the perceptions of the
theater of composition, forum theatre, and the actor power.
Here, the sharing.
Stands on the idea of the intercontinental company, that has a theatrical space,
and matrial abilities which allow it to work in a method of laboratory
that developed into a performance, this what has happened in Stuttgart,
when searching for the Good Person, and its image in different type of culture
from Southern, and Northern Sudan, where frontiers looking for peace, to create
the dialogue of creativity and composition, to enrich the experiment.
Going on with theater composition and searching actor within the inter
continental company that worked with it self, and on the boundary of the
audience for the actor and the audience to
exchange knowledge, here, learning
is not scholastic one, but intellectual. Then going back to theater composition
doesn’t mean that, we have all of it, though. The process of creativity,
isn’t a showing process, but is an attempt for renewing.
The notion of
composition we adopt here is the idea of going beyond searching and renewing in
the aesthetical context, flourishing from the idea of the intercontinental
company the works in the course of heritage, to enrich the performances, to
become a living theatre which has it’s continuity, and specialties as in the
case of Sudan cultural diversity. Thus, the theater composition has been
specialized, and experimental learning on ritual and festivals scientifically
and artistically studied, to know in what way it can its part in experimental
theater performance.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY
NAME: Tanghalang Sta. Ana
TITLE
OF PRODUCTION: MARTIR
SA GOLGOTA
COUNTRY:
Philippines
Synopsis /Description:
The senaculo is an integral part of Filipino folk musical traditions of
which there are two main streams: the Asiatic and Westernized (mainly Spanish)
traditions. it involves the rendition of the life and passion of Christ in the
form of outdoor dramas.
Martir is presented to the public for free in selected venues from Holy
Monday to Black Saturday with actors honed at a home base from the community.
Throughout the years, it has attracted celebrities and theater actors who
perform pro bono.
An
interesting aspect of Martir is its contemporary improvisational factor. Two
years ago, the cross at Cavalry is transferred into a church with Christ coming
down from the cross to answer questions from kids like "Why did I see
politicians giving money to my parents?" Last year, the Virgin Mary became
Inang Bayan to address the problems of today.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME: ARTE CORDILLERA
COUNTRY: LAMUT, IFUGAO, PHILIPPINES
TITLE OF PRODUCTION:
“HUDHUD MI ADUWANI YA BOGWA DE ALYONA” (Our hudhud today talks about
bogwa )
Description/Synopsis of the Production:
An
Ifugao OFW from Italy working as
domestic helper suffers from a
severe feeling of coldness
and numbness in the legs at night time especially when she is about to fall
asleep. In her
sleep, the dead Lola of hers back home from Nayon, Lamut, Ifugao always
appears as if beckoning her from a far away land. Sensing that the dead Lola is
sending signals for her to go home, she went back to Nayon for vacation.
Upon
arriving home, her folks suggested to conduct a “bone-washing ritual” or
“BOGWANG” in Tuwali dialect to find out what has happened to the remaining
bones of the Lola inside her coffin. And so
they exhumed the coffin of the Lola from the gravesite. When they opened
the coffin, they found out that that it had leaks on the side of the lower
extremities (now the bones of Lola’s legs
actually) and in which water has
seeped largely into them.
The Mumbaki related the dream of the OFW and her feeling of
coldness in the legs to the
bones inside the leaking coffin. So he initiated a long ritual to accompany the
Bogwang act. Everyone else joined the ritual which included butchering of
chicken, black pig, and carabao as well as reading the signs from the “apdo”
of these animals. The
elderly women initiated chanting the Hudhud specifically for the “BOGWANG”
or Bone Washing occasion accompanied by some indigenous dancing . At the end of the day, chanters, dancers,
gangsa players and all the guests who
attended the Bogwang ritual went home with some slices of meat and other
“pasalubong” from Italy through
the kindness of the vacationing OFW
who went back to Italy a little more relieved this time from the problematic
situation of her legs.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME: Armenian
National Center of ITI
TITLE OF PRODUCTION :
The
Second Will
COUNTRY: Armenia
Description/Synopsis of the Production:
Here
are two sisters, two illogically opposite characters.
One
of them has given herself to men and pleasure, and the other is forever
isolated.
Ten
years have passed from the day they came off, when the Elder sister left the
mother-land swearing never to be back. Even
more, she did not go to their mother's funeral.
Their
mother died in silence, without saying a word; adapted to her spiritual
dereliction and indifference. And she was sure that her Younger daughter would
just organize the funeral and nothing more and no feelings. Suddenly, after
seven years from mother's death, Her Second Will is appeared. It has broken
everything, and even for a very short time as if with some mystery it made the
Elder sister return to her mother-land. The
memories are unavoidable. At the same place the sisters will again try to take
away their man, will again suffer from their true-story, which turned their
lives into a hell. Only mother's Second Will and New Testament will clear up the
whole story making them reconsider their past and future...
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY
NAME: Skemmtihusid Theatre (Kerub)
TITLE
OF PRODUCTION: The
Saga of Gudridur (English version)
La Saga de Gudridur_(French version.)
COUNTRY:
Iceland
·
Description/Synopsis of the Production:
Working
from the Icelandic sagas, mainly The Saga of Erik the Red and The
Greenlanders’ Saga, Brynja Benediktsdottir has reconstructed the saga of Gudridur Thorbjarnardottir. Gudridur’s saga tells
about the first settlement in North America by Icelanders five centuries before
Columbus, around the year 1005. This was a pivotal time when Iceland and
Greenland became Christian from heathen. These sagas were once kept alive
through oral tradition, so by retelling them (but adding modern methods and
perspectives) the author pays homage to this tradition and the elders who kept
them alive.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY
NAME: ALYANSA, INC
TITLE
OF PRODUCTION :
PATAYA PATIHAYA
COUNTRY:
NCR / PHILIPPINES
·
Description/Synopsis of the Production:
Alex
a young aspiring film maker, dreams of making it big in the movie industry.
After graduating from the US he returns to his hometown not only to find out the
real motives behind his father’s death but also to search for a material for
his film.
Joey,
an “ending” bet-taker, wishes to liberate herself from Poroy, her husband
“bugaw”. She gives her body as prize for the winning basketball “ending”
bet her husband turns her into a drug courier prostitute to live and survive.
Poknat,
a trolley-pusher and drug users, knows all the ins and outs of looban. He
possesses the brilliance of cat’s eyes to see through the real souls and lives
in looban.
The
three childhood friends cross paths again in the rail road trucks. They again
bet their dreams in the intertwining intestines of basketball, drugs and
prostitution.
A
drug deals sets the entire Looban into fire. The Pusher. The User, the Police.
The jek-jeks. The cat…. All of them are the complex ironies, captured by the
lens of Alex. Will Alex through his camera help Joey escape from Poroy? Will his
camera fulfill his promise of a better life to poknat and Joey? Will his camera
see the real killer of his father?
Railroad
Tracks…. Drugs ….. Ending ….. Prostitution….
Meanwhile,
in any plaza, street corner, and in national television, the basketball league
continues.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME: Lithuanian National Drama
Theatre (Birute Mar theatre group)
TITLE OF PRODUCTION:
ANTIGONE
COUNTRY: Lithuania
Synopsis/ Discription
Antigone, the daughter of King Oedipus, is
punished by Creontus, the new King of Thebes, to be buried alive for trying to
bury the body of her Brother Polinycus. She had just poured a handful of sand
over her brother‘s body.
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME: Philippine
Educational Theater Association
TITLE OF PRODUCTION: Pasaporte
COUNTRY: Philippines
Description/Synopsis of the Production:
Dina Asenso is an English Teacher. Manalo Dimakaahon is a computer
graduate. How do these two cope with the discovery that attaining their dreams
could be as difficult and complicated as obtaining a visa to the United States
of America?
________________________________________________________________
COMPANY NAME: MUSIC THEATER FOUNDATION,
PHILIPPINES
TITLE OF PRODUCTION: SPOLIARIUM (JUAN LUNA)
COUNTRY: PHILIPPINES
Description/Synopsis of the Production:
Spoliarium is a tribute to the
greatest Filipino painter who has brought honor to the country-Juan Luna.
ACT 1 OPENS UP WITH A GATHERING
OF Filipino expatriates in Spain to celebrate the gold medal Juan Luna had just
won for his magnificent portrayal in vivid and vibrant colors of the Spoliarium
in Rome where he captured the agony of gladiators, and the families that were
mourning their dead.
In the same gathering, Felix
Resureccion Hidalgo, who won a silver medal, was also honored. Following the
victory of the Spoliarium, the unraveling of his stormy marriage to Paz Pardo de
Tavera reflected the agony and suffering of the subjects of his painting.
Their union began with the
passionate declaration of Juan Luna for his Paz” I adore you with madness”
,which became the underlying theme of the opera, both in libretto and music.
A tragic opera, the librettist
sought to lighten the work in the first act by portraying the Filipino penchant
for using any gathering as an excuse to serve food. And in the opera, it is
also used to limn the social inequalities prevailing in the Philippines during
those times.
After the very romantic music of
the wedding scene, both librettist and composer followed the documented
chronicling of the doomed union of Juan and Paz, which culminated in the murder
by Juan Luna of Paz and his mother-In-law, Dona Juliana de Gorricho .
The failure of the marriage
actually began with the death of their 3-year old daughter Bibi, whose death
Juan blamed on Paz’s negligence. Juan could never accept the death of Bibi.
And in the opera, the composer wrote eerie music to delineate the state of
Juan’s mind in the mad scene where Luna dances with the portrait of Bibi.
Insanity has begun to take hold of Juan’s mind. And in a café scene where he
imagines the star dancer to be Paz flirting with the patrons of the café, I n
his mind he saw Paz in a tryst with Mr. Dussac, her lover.
Deviating from fact and using
operatic license, the librettist chose to have Paz die in the arms of a
devastated husband singing in a duet, one of the most memorable arias in the
opera. Their 6 year old son Luling, upon seeing his grandmother and mother lying
in death thinking they are only asleep.
Although Juan was acquitted by
the Paris jury, Juan declares himself guilty 3 times in answer to the jury’s
NOT GUILTY, singing three powerful hair-raising arias requiring a tenor of high
tessitura (or range) and optimum breath control.
Juan Luna’s letter to his close
friend Rizal is used to portray Juan’s aloneness in the perioe following the
double murder. “no matter what, like a song, only the memories of the good
remain.”
And once more, the cries of
“Viva Luna” are heard at the close of the opera.