Kate De Jesus Play Analysis

Emerson Bryan DJ Dilla March 3, 2015
W-6R Prof. Kate de Jesus
An Artistic Mismatch
To reunite with the first play you have encountered as a theatre actor was just overwhelming, I must say. Last February 19 at 7:30pm, I witnessed a new adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama ‘’Our Town’’ of the accomplished American novelist and playwright, Thornton Wilder. The new interpretation was entitled ‘’Dito Sa Atin’’ performed by Kayumanggi Pangkat Dulaan at the Batong Malake Covered Court, adapted by Myra S. Samson and directed by Gian Carlo U. De Jesus.
This three-act filipinized play mirrored how life in the late 1900 was in Los Banos, Laguna, and how it evolved through time. It centered on love story of Hiling and Jorge that depicted several themes about life like eternal love, marriage and death. This particular play was not strange to me. In fact, George in the original script was my first role playing as a student artist in the Philippine High School for the Arts and Cultural Center of the Philippines under professional directors. The familiarity let me critically oversee how the creative approach of the production worked collectively with the altered version. And in my perspective, although the text and direction brilliantly reinvented the beauty of Wilder’s real concept in the context of Los Banos, the performance failed to fully embody its richness as a result of artistic mismatch on the actors’ side.
According to Aristotelian Poetics, a theatrical performance is composed of interdependent elements, including the spectacle, plot, diction, thought, melody, and characters (Birch, 2014). Therefore, a simple mistake on a single component can entirely devastate the reality of the whole play. That was the insight I adhered to when analyzing the possible basis of the disconnecting feeling that overcame me after the show. Was it the script/plot? Was there a probable conflict occurred on the staging process of this classic American play to our societal condition? These were outright queries I have concluded which eventually lead me wrong. These were misconceptions, I insisted. The textual material was indeed a meticulous reflection not only of the Grover’s inhabitants, but of the Filipino culture itself. On the other hand, the experimental direction generated an effective interactive approach enriched with playful use of space and technical effects. An educational tool also emerged that discussed historical facts, geography and activities at a daily basis through the persona of the stage manager. These details complemented the essential values in living, loving or dying with fragile memories of the past in a community setting like Los Banos. That was the portion I could assert that ‘’Dito sa Atin’’ was successful.
The smell of fresh sceneries in UPLB, the delicious early cola slurpee, the noise of students after classes- these were some of the images imprinted on the story which were all sensible though not all physically showcased. However, these emotional triggers were not sustained all throughout the show which saddened me along the way. Rich words and blocking were still inadequate to transpire all the underlying sentiments. ‘’Theatre is all about action and emotion.’’, a quote from my former acting teacher Ian Segarra, a senior company member at Philippine Educational Theatre Association (PETA). Hence, a successful play should engage emotional upbringings too and not only pure entertainment.
As a professional actor, portraying a character is not just an arduous task but more of an obligation that requires intensive training and technique.
That is why acting workshops were designed to ready the physical stamina and psychological conditions of the actors. This facet resulted to which I refer as apparently incompatibility on the play’s creative scheme. The argument here was not the lack of acting faculties of the actors, I affirm. In fact, some of these amateurs were truly impressive given their young ages with no really specialized teaching and knowledge regarding theatre arts. My concern here was on the physical and emotional necessities of this tough play which equally obligate mature actors with enough personal experiences, not professional exposures, in which they can rely certain gestures, speech pattern and emotional stability of their playing characters. One analogical scrutiny could be like this, candlelight inside a large lecture room. Yes, it could give light like the young actors who could remarkably deliver, but still, a huge room requires more light or else immense darkness will still conquest. This could be further explained by one of Constantin Stanislavsky’s theatre principles. In ‘’method acting’’ by Stanislavski (1934/1980), actors should be ready enough to recall their own memories and emotional background in order to naturalize the acting and to attain truthfulness of the role. In relation, the young actors appeared to be inferior simply because ‘’Dito Sa Atin’’ characters hold stronger convictions, beliefs and personal
issues.
Some proofs of this conflict were the unclear enunciation of lines, unnecessary body stance, and irregularities in speech pattern with reference to change of eras and trends. Among these, the most predominant evidence of artistic disparity was the disconnected perception of the audience despite the distress, dismay and grief offered in Act 3. I was totally puzzled actually when almost all my seatmates were surreptitiously laughing at the fearful blocking of the dead above the foot lights, which should be a scene of silence. A scene of reflection was instead replaced by a plain event watching resulted from the improper graph of emotion of actors, especially Hiling. Every line should be plotted with corresponding shades of emotions from exposition until all these reach an outburst peak, at least of cry and helpless acceptance for Hiling. That was I think what the audience needed which did not happen at all, merely because the act requires a more proper age engrossed with physical and emotional maturity equally powerful with Hiling’s reality.
An effectual play involves a rich-text, imaginative direction and a suitable acting technique to stimulate the encapsulated message in the story. This will connect ideally to audience’s emotional conception that will certify the relative success of the entire production. That is I think the most beautiful artistic aspect in theatrical performance. In the play ‘’Dito Sa Atin’’, although the literary piece and directorial style brought the audience back to Los Banos life community before modernization and presented it in an enthusiastic method, the emotional state of major characters was not fully achieved due to implications of artistic mismatching in the actors. Maybe other plays could have worked, but not in the serious concept of ‘’Our Town’’. Consequently, the love story confined with themes such as living, loving and dying did not exhibit the way Wilder’s original script and adaptation aspired for, but quite distorted.
References:
Stanislavski, C. (1980). An Actor Prepares (E.Hapgood, Trans.). London: Menthuen. (Original work published 1936).
Birch, A. (2014). Aristotle’s Elements of Drama. Resources for the Inquiring Mind. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.net/MindFilms/aristot.shtml