REPERTORY PHILIPPINES' INITIAL OFFERING FOR 2016.....

Aggie Wheeler And Simon Bright..... A Mysterious Letter.....
The Seance..... Daria Confronts Martha..... William Gillette, Inspector Goring And Felix Geisel..... It's 2016 and Repertory Philippines has opened its new season with the hilarious play "The Game's Afoot" by Ken Ludwig

The setting is the 1930s and the main character William Gillette is an actor who is best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. He invites the cast of his latest play to his house to celebrate Christmas when all hell breaks loose and someone dies. He now has to channel his alter ego as he tries to solve the real life mystery. Ms Joy Virata heads the impressive cast as she plays Martha Gillette. She shares the same role with Jay Valencia Glorioso. Pinky Amador is Daria Chase while Paul Holme is William Gillette. Jeremy Domingo is Gillette's best friend Felix Geisel while Christine Flores is Felix's wife Madge. Natalie Everett portrays Inspector Goring. Hans Eckstein and Mica Pineda are the scheming couple Simon Bright and Aggie Wheeler. Miguel Faustmann directs the production. The play runs from January 15 to February 7, 2016 at Onstage Greenbelt 1.

I actually like the play. If I wasn't busy with taking pictures, I would have sat back on my chair, watched the play and laughed so hard at the scenes as it unfolds. Eventually, I couldn't control my laughter any longer and just let go. It does surprise me though that I understand and like British farce.

WHEN FAIRIES BECOME FILMSTARS.....

Hans Eckstein as Oberon.....






Red Concepcion as Puck.....






Miguel Faustmann (Willie Hayes, Left) And Robbie Zialcita (Max Reinhardt, Right).....








Caisa Borromeo as Olivia.....








Cris Villonco as Lydia.....






Arnel Carrion is Jack Warner.....




Reuben Uy plays Dick Powell (Left), Topper Fabregas as Daryl (Far Right).....






Nick Campos is Joe E. Brown....






Joy Virata plays Louella Parsons (Right).....







I am fascinated with Shakespeare! It is amazing to see his works adapted into movie screenplays then turned into films. The movies make me understand his stories better, as I do find his way of writing dialogues a little complicated for me. I admit, I haven't read a single Shakespearean book and I think that my unfamiliarity with his written works is the reason behind this difficulty.

But I do not like some of these Shakespeare films. I have to check the director of a movie before I decide whether I would watch it or not. Films like "Romeo and Juliet" which had Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes and directed by Baz Luhrmann was fantastic. So was "Shakespeare in Love" which starred Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow with John Madden as director. But I can not say the same of "Much Ado About Nothing", a film that boasts an all star cast led by Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves. Its screenplay was written and at the same time directed by well known Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh. Branagh's roots made him stick to the conventional treatment of Shakespeare. And this meant sticking to the fast pace cadence when the actors speak their long, rhyming lines.

This is not my first time to watch a live Shakespeare play. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed it. I guess me keeping an open mind and not letting my bias get the best of me made me appreciate the play more. It also was awesome to watch local actors show their acting chops and adapt to the Shakespeare line delivery that I mentioned before. Some, like Cris Villonco, even portrayed a character out of her box, that of a blonde bimbo who is the movie producer's girlfriend, hence her inclusion in the movie set.

The title of the play is "Shakespeare In Hollywood". Set in 1934, Shakespeare's most famous fairies Oberon and Puck have magically materialized on a Warner Bros. Hollywood set of Max Reinhardt's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The two get instantly smitten by the glitz and glamor of show business as they are ushered onto the movie to play, who else but themselves!

Oberon unexpectedly falls in love to a mortal, Olivia who is the actress playing Hermia. The villain in this story is Willie Hayes, the motion picture censor who wrote the Hayes Code. Hayes thinks that the script of the movie does not conform to his prudishly restrictive code and threatens to shut down filming of the movie. With his movie career and love in jeopardy, Oberon orders Puck to find the flower that "makes a man/woman madly dote upon the live creature he first sees". The merry go round starts but all is sorted out in the end.

Hans Eckstein plays Oberon with Red Concepcion as Puck. Robbie Zialcita is director Max Reinhardt and Arnel Carrion plays movie producer Jack Warner. Miguel Faustmann is the hilarious Willie Hayes and Reuben Uy is cast as Dick Powell. Topper Fabregas is Daryl, Jack Warner's PA. Nick Campos is Joe E. Brown while Rem Zamora has a cameo as James Cagney. Female leads are Caisa Borromeo as the actress Olivia, Cris Villonco plays blonde bombshell Lydia and Joy Virata is Louella Parsons. The production is directed by Jaime del Mundo.

A quick note. Some of the photos may seem blurred, but this is intentional. The actors are constantly moving and I wanted to show movement in some of the pictures hence the blurry output. Besides, if I wanted a perfect portrait, I could have asked them to pose in their costumes but I do not want to be a nuisance to the actors.

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!