…was set right at the epicenter of the storm that was the Japanese occupation. it was about a girl named Amadea (cool name), whose husband went off to fight in the guerilla movement while she was left manning the household, caring for their sick child and infant boy, and worrying about her husband being gone, hoping he will return alive and well, at the very least, and not abandon them like her own American father did. Despite the questions surrounding her abandonment issues with her father, she was still hoping that they’ll someday be reunited in California, like he “promised”. while waiting for any news of her husband, a psychic instinct suddenly came over her that made her realize her father might be dying at that very moment, and thus, through her father’s “ghost”, she confronted her father issues and finally had her closure. in the end, her husband came home alive and well as hoped, bearing vials of the precious meds their sick child needed.
that plot was divided into 3 acts that went for 2 hours, and was told in a way like how grandmothers tell a story. based on the majority of grannies in attendance, i think this was actually their story to tell.
only lola’s story of how she and lolo met could make the unruly kids stop bouncing off walls (just to clarify: a generic lola, not my lola). of course in between that there’d be anecdotes of how they hid from the Japanese, how they were almost caught, how they used to swim at the lake out back, how they chatted and flirted with the American “Joes”, until they met lolo and had a family together, and thus here we are talking about it. we kids would usually drift off around the part where they start romanticizing about the old days swimming in the lake or eating chocolates and learning English from the American “Joes”.
i think it went on too long because of the expositional anecdotes added to the first act monologue. in fact the whole first act was a monologue. at first i thought lopping off the first act monologue altogether will make the plot tighter, but it would be disrespectful of the memories of our lolos and lolas so i think it could still work if there were other secondary characters with “special” participation (as in not necessarily realistic) in the anecdotes.
minor comment as well to the script: it was in English but it would add more local flavor if there were some Bisaya expressions added to the exaggerated Bisaya accent in humorous parts of the script. i think the lolas in the audience would also appreciate that.
i figured the play was probably about the playwright’s mom, since his sister was in the audience and introduced herself during the Q&A. she told everyone how some scenes actually happened in real life and that she’s thankful to her brother that he staged it this year, their mom’s centenary. how sweet. a lot of relatives were in attendance as well, reaffirming their participation in scenes that depicted parts of their family history. they even mistook me for a granddaughter to which i slowly retreated from (“ohnohnohno, please don’t pick me, i have a phobia for graded recitation and socializing! shit!”). it suddenly turned into a family reunion, grannies reminiscing about the occupation, stuff like that. it suddenly made me miss my Sprite-loving, Heno de Pravia-smelling lola – very, very forgiving, caring, deeply pious but stern in a non-manipulative, non-authoritarian way, like no other lola could ever be.
(sorry, i just made my review all about me again. i needed to put a spin to my last paragraph somehow. honest! it made me vividly remember my lola again.)
