The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World Meets Ang Pinakamakisig Sa Mga Nalunod Sa Buong Daigdig

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World meets Ang Pinakamakisig sa mga Nalunod Sa Buong Daigdig “He has the face of someone called Esteban…” – this might be the most promising line of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World, which by the way, I was really expecting to be blurted out in a heartfelt and serious manner, and somewhat in a way that chills will slowly rise up upon my body. But we can’t have all what we wish for, do we? Sometimes, what we know is limited to that idea alone, never breaking out of our comfort zones and exploring other horizons of what a certain knowledge and information, principle, and even a piece of art could offer us. Having read this short story, I was in the peak of my expectations that Ang Pinakamakisig sa mga Nalunod Sa Buong Daigdig would be really much the same and would adapt every little detail of Marquez’s story – a play having dialogues strictly following the plot of the story. Before even entering the auditorium, I caught myself wondering how they would portray this huge guy (would it be a real man or a mannequin as large as the story depicts? Would it be as handsome as expected?); and how would they roll the dice in defining how great this man is. These simple things and questions boggled my mind up until the last minute. And alas! The play has begun. I suddenly found myself in awe even during the first couple of minutes of the play. The adaptation made by Teresa Lorena Jopson was never to be expected by anyone, especially those who read it, which created a sense of enigmatic presence to the audiences’ portals. It was as if the short story was strategically and artistically redesigned to suit a bunch of spectators which one can really relate on to. The play’s versatility reflected a side or a hint of some Filipino culture and outlook like the individualities of every woman character in the drama – the gorgeous and cunning youngest lady in the group, Laura (Ang Haliparot),