THE FEMALE HEART: A Heart That Gives

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.