Red Turnip's Opens Their 3rd Season with 33 Variations

They’re back!

After a successful 2^nd Season run – Rabbit Hole and Time Stands Still, this band of 5 actors (Jenny Jamora, Cris Villonco, Ana Abad Santos, Topper Fabregas and Rem Zamora) is back for another season of fun, drama and in your face scenes that people will enjoy, talk about and even reflect afterwards.

For their 3^rd Season, Red Turnip Theater presents 2 straight plays that display time and space.  Opening the season is 33 Variations by Moises Kaufman and shall serve as Jenny Jamora’s directorial debut for Red Turnip, and Constellations by Nick Payne – their second offering.  If the 1^st Season was pushing for self-identity and realization, while the 2^nd Season is all about the strength of a woman, this season it is about love with an added element – time and space.

33 VARIATIONS tells the story of a renowned musicologist, Katherine Brandt, who is on a mission to discover why Beethoven composed the Diabelli variations, considered as one of his greatest masterpieces. Her daughter, Clara, is on a mission to find her place in her mother's world. Together, they maneuver through Beethoven's colorful life, their own challenging relationship, and somehow find their answers within his music. Shifting between periods and places, 33 VARIATIONS is the story of mothers and daughters and the legacies we long to leave behind.

CONSTELLATIONS is a gorgeous two-character love story by Nick Payne. It received the Evening Standard Best New Play Award when it opened In London in 2012, and received a Best Actress Tony Nomination for Ruth Wilson in the 2015 Broadway run which also starred Jake Gyllenhaal.

The late afternoon press conference at the Red Light Bar along Makati Avenue in Makati City, was an afternoon of good mood and camaraderie formed from years past.  The media family of publicist, Toots Tolentino, was all in a relax state no small thanks to the offerings made available by Ralph’s Wines.  It was no regular press conference in the sense that we may all be there to work and cover the event but we were also taking the time to relax after a busy day.  Ideas and opinions were thrown even before the press con started.  Laughter is heard all throughout.  We were all enjoying the time even before the event started.

The cast of 33 Variations are as follow:

        

  Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino as musicologist Katherine Brandt

 

Teroy Guzman as Ludwig Van Beethoven

Paolo O’ Hara as Anton Diabelli

Rem Zamora as Anton Schindler

Roselyn Perez as Dr. Gertrude Ladenburger

Ina Fabregas as Clara Brandt

Franco Chan as Mike Clark

Ejay Yatco on piano

One remarkable thought came out during the press con that struck a note in me, not because it was a sensitive response but because of the logic behind it.

“Music is a character.  It is there.  It is heard and yet unseen.  It even dictates as to how a scene should and would be handled,” states Teroy Guzman. If you will look into things, music does affect a scene big time. It can make or break a scene depending on how it was applied. That is how important music is and it is no wonder that people goes mad when consumed by their desire to serve this Muse of the Arts.

In that small space, the cast did a standard reading of the play as teaser and teaser it was indeed!  For during that sample reading, I felt that shift in time and space as Katherine Brandt moved from past to present as she searches for the meaning of Beethoven’s work.  Add to that the fact that a baby grand piano is to part of the stage and shall produce the sounds of Beethoven’s 33 variations, this would be a wonder of wonders for the senses.

As Jenny makes her directorial debut, this is what she has to say:

“We had decided on this show almost two years ago, we knew it was what we had wanted to open the Third Season with. This play has been simmering in my head since then. ’33 Variations’ is such an elegant, intricate piece of work and I am excited by the challenge of bringing it to life. I’ve also surrounded myself with a powerhouse cast and a young, energetic production team. I cannot wait for everyone to see what they’ve all brought to the table.  It’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen from Red Turnip so far.”

33 VARIATIONS runs weekends July 24 – August 23, 2015 at Whitespace, Makati.
CONSTELLATIONS runs in March 2016.

Tickets are available through TicketWorld (891-9999 or www.ticketworld.com.ph) or Red Turnip Theater (redturniptheater@gmail.com or https://www.facebook.com/RedTurnipTheater)

RED TURNIP THEATER SEASON 3 is presented in cooperation with Whitespace, Lyric, FILA, and PLDT.