Shown at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater of the Palma Hall
in U.P. Diliman is Linda Faigao-Hall’s The Female Heart. This is a piece that shows what a heart can
do all for the sake of family and love ones.
Serving as her directorial debut for U.P. Playwrights, Banaue
Miclat-Janssen has truly proven her worth as an artist with this heart-felt
piece.
The Female Heart is a story about two siblings who will do
their best for the betterment of the other and their family. It is about sacrifices and swallowing of
self-pride all for the sake of family.
It is about one giving his life for the betterment of his younger
sibling whom he sees bear a bright future, while the other one gave up her
self-respect for the betterment of his brother who is sick with HIV,
unknowingly. This heart wrenching piece
written by Linda Faigao-Hall is truly timely and timeless because of the topics
that it touches: the rising HIV status in the Philippines right now, the
sacrifices one will do for one’s family and how love binds us all as a family
despite the distance.
Al Gatmaitan took the challenging role of Angel, the brother
of Adelfa who swallowed his pride to help provide a future for his sister who
was the first valedictorian scholar of the historical area Smokey Mountain. In his desire to let his sibling get a decent
education which she can use for her future, he entered the world of the night
people as a macho dancer. He was successful in giving her part of her collegiate
education but has to stop because he became ill with a lung disease which was
already a start of his health path to a life with HIV/AIDS.
Chase Salazar took the role of Adelfa, the sister of
Angel. What started as a bright future
slowly turned dim when she decided to stop studying and enter the world of mail order brides to provide financial
assistance to her family, especially that of her brother Angel.
Both roles are pivotal because they showed the acts one can
do for the sake of their family that they love.
The character development of Adelfa, as done by Chase, was quite notable
because of the way she evolved from a naïve girl to someone who is willing to
do anything for her brother – family.
Angel, who knows that he has nothing more to gain in life, focused his
energy to provide a decent future for his sister even if the price is his
self-respect; a role that gave Al a challenge with the demands it calls to
bring it to life on stage. One thing that I have noted in Al’s character is the
way the color of his clothes somehow affects his delivery. When he was in black, it somehow ate him from
within making him fragile which was apt at that moment when he was sick and
when he was in white, there was a calm energy projection and somehow the color
made him robust in appearance. It is something seldom seen in actors but with
him, somehow he uses the color of his clothes to help project the needed image
to the audience.
The rest of the cast were Peewee O’Hara as Roasario – the mother
of Adelfa and Angel, also played by Sheryll Ceasico. Mark McKeown plays the American husband of
Adelfa and he did it spot on, I would say.
He is what one say as a dirty
bastard but for me, the best way to describe his role is this: an obsessive
compulsive, neurotic verging on psychotic, sex hungry, sadistic bastard who
doesn’t have the balls to do what is right.
I don’t hate his role. I actually
love his role because of the way he gave life to it and showed the various
facets of Roger. I was able to catch
Peewee, unfortunately I cannot comment on Sheryll’s interpretation, on stage as
Roasario and she portrayed the role as a mother as someone who dreams of
riches, gained and enjoyed it without knowing as to how it was gained for her
by those who provide (case of Adelfa in the States). I find her effective when she was torn with
the riches she is now enjoying versus that of the desire to have her daughter
reach out to them when Angel was near death.
Banaue Miclat-Janssen, in her directorial debut, is quite
effective because the residents of the theater were singing after the show (if you are from DUP, then you know what I
mean when I say residents of the theater).
She was able to share her knowledge in such a way that people were able
to deliver what was needed. Yes, there
were some minor things that could have made it better but she has proven her
worth as an artist to be able to mount a heart wrenching piece into something
simply heartfelt. She never made the
audience feel low or bad after watching the piece but she made sure that it
would be felt and leave a mark in the hearts and minds of the theater
attendees. She may want it technical in
some parts but her heart as an artist won over and it showed.
The Female Heart is not about the sacrifices a female can do in
her life but what one can do for their love ones regardless of their own
gender. Male or female, you may have a
female heart because you are willing to sacrifice yourself for the betterment
of whom you love. The female heart is
within each and every one of us, if we give it a chance to take action in our
lives.
Catch this U.P. Playwright production and see if the female
heart is alive in you.
