SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE.....
"Where art thou?"
Two Characters From The Play.....
Hans Eckstein And Jenny Jamora.....
The Female Ensemble.....
The Boyband.....
Main Actors Nicolo Manahan And Chris Villonco.....
As much as I love theater plays, it seems that I have a limit in what play appeals to me and what doesn't. I once watched a theater play in London, Tennessee Williams' "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" which featured Brendan Fraser (such a hunk of a man! (swoon!)) as Brick Pollit, an aging ex-football hero who neglects his wife (Frances Mcdermond) and further infuriates her when he ignores his brother's attempts to gain control of the family fortune. I haven't seen it before nor do I have the knowledge about the plot. But I was able to get the gist and plot of the play just like I was watching a movie. Cool! So when I was asked to take photographs of the dress rehearsal of the Repertory Philippines' production of Love's Labor's Lost, I agreed to do so.
I guess I am not a big Bard fan, of his literary works that is! I had so much trouble catching up with the lines and that I couldn't even get the main plot line. Perhaps it would have been better if I was completely focused on the play and not on taking pictures. It might have increased my comprehension to understand it. To think that The Bard happens to be the greatest writer that I even wanted to go to his hometown at Stratford Upon Avon in England to pay homage to him. If the time comes that my headaches clear, that I don't have internet connection, that I don't have a shoot, that I am just inside the house and that I actually have a Shakespeare book with me, then I probably have no choice but read the book and see for myself if I can really dig Shakespeare's words or not! Any suggestions on what story should I read first?
Bart Guingona directed this one. Epy Quizon, Nic Manahan, Hans Eckstein, Gabs Santos, Micah Munoz, Jenny Jamora, Cris Villonco, Crisel Consunji, Caisa Borromeo make up the lead and they are ably supported by Ana Bitong, Oliver Usison, Jejie Esguerra, Kenneth Keng, Pom Docena, Dingdong Rosales and Bonngoy Manahan. Although the play was written and thus patterned during Shakespeare's time, Guingona actually adapted it to fit the present setting which by Bart's choice is the 80's. A part of the play where the female cast sing a song that describes them as a group, they actually where humming and singing rubbish lyrics of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". Surely the song didn't exist during Shakespear's time. But Bart believed that the play's theme is timeless. Whether the setting is during the time when kings and princeses reign or when people's power is the in thing, the plot will work.
Bless his heart. I hope that people will flock and go to the theater to watch this performance. Hey! They should be! This is a comedy! This is Shakespeare!