UPPT's Dead Stars 1925 / Sepang Loca.

Went to UP yesterday afternoon to catch the 3pm show of UPPT's twinbill of and Dead Stars 1925 and Sepang Loca. Crazy weather, as it was fairly sunny when I had left the south, and by the time I had reached the FX terminal in Buendia, the rain was pouring and it didn't stop until after I made a pit stop in Philcoa. But when I had boarded a jeep to UP, it started raining again. And just my luck, part of the road where the faculty center was was closed off, so I had to get off somewhere after Palma Hall and walk back down the road in the rain (thank goodness for my ever-ready umbrella).

Once inside, I noticed that the set wasn't the typical theater-in-the-round. It actually looked like a combination of that and the thrust stage, hahahaha, as it formed a cross, and the audience sat in the 4 quadrant areas.

First up was Dead Stars 1925. It was actually refreshing to see Ana Abad Santos as Julia, because the other roles in the other plays (Murder for Rent, Moose Murders, Dogeaters) I had seen her in were sort of caricatures. There was finally depth in her character as Julia. It was great to see her in a character such as that in Dead Stars, though I wish I had seen her Candida in Portrait of the Artist as Filipino.

Was it me, or did the student audience keep chuckling everytime they see Merdin appear onstage? Comic relief? Ahahaha. And speaking of comic relief, Earl Ignacio's Chinese siopao seller was pretty funny, but just that. So I expected a lot more from him as the Anak after the intermission for Sepang Loca.

Moving on to Sepang Loca, I'm super darn proud of Opa as the title role. As it was a role that required no dialogue, I was amazed that her eyes could speak volumes as the crazy Sepa. Hahaha, I was kind of surprised that Rayna had changed her voice to a deeper register as one of the barren women, which is a good approach because the rest of the girls voices sounded the same. Para may maiba naman. On the other hand, Earl as the Anak wasn't at all effective. He spoke his lines too fast, as if he were reciting them, so there were times that I couldn't absorb what he was saying. But aside from that, I like the interesting turn of events to find out who was the father of Sepa's baby.

Congrats to the cast of Dead Stars 1925 and Sepang Loca!

Hung out with Opa, Rayna and Paula (who watched as well) at Petron in Katipunan. Dinner in Jollibee then hung out outside Starbucks so Paula can mooch on their wifi. Opa and Rayna spoke about their experiences during the production, especially because their training turned out to be sort of different from the others.

Just a thought, totoo ba na doon sa kanila, susundan mo na lang ang gusto ng direktor at wag nang magtatanong pa at baguhin? Because sa mga natutunan namin sa mga workshop/training namin, you do your own research on your character and the story and the rest of the people and how it weaves together. You explore all you could to see what could suit the characters and the story itself based on the given circumstances. Ikaw mismo ang mag-iisip kung anong pwede mo magawa. At kaya nga may direktor, para siya ang tumingin kung tama or hindi bagay o pwede o hindi pwede ang ginagawa mo; i-direct ka na lang sa tamang direksyon, kumbaga. Pero based sa mga narinig kong kwento, bahala na raw ang lahat sa direktor, basta gawin mo na lang ang gusto niyang makita. Ganun na raw ang "school of acting" doon. I wouldn't know for sure, really. What about you, what's your take on this?