It has definitely been awhile. My last post was a long time back and a lot's happened. My play was a success and my "Kate" got splendid reviews. In that time, I got to do fantastic shows where I danced, acted, choreographed and had fun. I loved the process of discovery, the pain of hard work and the joy of harvest. I had fun.
The reason I gave up writing on this blog was because no one was reading it. My friends are not into blog stuff. Some of them even think it's desperate. Desperate for attention. I wanted something out of this? But, come to think of it, aren't we all?
Human Nature. We Want Everything. We want Power. We want Love. We want to be able to make the right decisions. We want the capacity to erase the past. We want to control the future. We want what we can't have. We want. We want.
Did I want my friends to read my blog? Yeah. Do I want others to read my blog? Yeah.
We can't have everything we want. But we can still have fun. I'm gonna have fun.
Or maybe no one was reading my blog because most of the people in my circle's on livejournal... hmmm...
4 comments:
I read your blog, even if I'm on livejournal :) It was wonderful seeing you in Manila Peej! Take care always. Mwah!
Hey PJ,
I stumbled across your blog by complete happenstance, as I was feeling quite nostalgic about Manila and started surfing topics of interest. You'd probably have no idea who I am, but we went to the same church many maaany years ago. You were in the children's drama group, or was it dance? In any case, it's wonderful to see you pursuing avenues in the arts.
It's funny but when I read that you got the role of Kate in Shrew, I just *had* to post a comment. You see, I played this role some time ago here in New Zealand. A tawdry production, but challenging nonetheless. I'd be interested to hear your take on the character and how you negotiated the gender politics and trasgressions inherent in the play.
Of course please don't feel obliged to respond, particularly if your'e caught up in rehearsals. However, hearing from an actor in the Philippines would be fantastic.
See you in the blogosphere!
All the best,
Marc
hi marc!
I do remember you. It took awhile to reply because (1) I don't live at home for the summer which means no computer and (2) I barely have time to go to an internet cafe. I got to read your message several days ago, but I had to run back to the studio.
As for Kate, it was real taxing. The process was real tedious. We were all-men and had to stylize everything. The problem was we all were acting the play using different forms of stylized acting. I went to an acting and vocal coach for verse work, text studies and improvisations. Even our PM saw to it to check on me and give me notes of her own. During rehearsals, our director would even call me Lady Macbeth during notes. I was too heavy, dark and dramatic. When we got to the stage and work with the props, lights and costumes, everything changed and the ensemble acting came to fore. This allowed us to deliver laugh-out-loud performances and garner splendid reviews.
As for the gender issues, we chose to attack the play from the veiwpoint of the men during shakespeares era. We were a traveling acting troupe of men spurned by shrewish wives and the play is our sermon to all the women in society. The play is our revenge. I would come on stage as a man and put make-up on stage. Then, the cast would come on stage wearing basic period costumes like myself and, on stage, wear their characters' costume. Then we would fix the set and the play would begin. All those that played women also had to play men. So I had to be both Kate and the pedant/merchant in the same show. This meant that for act two I would have to change costumes on stage between scenes. This served to remind the audience that I am still a man. After the last scene, we disrobe on stage and take our bows.
Did that cover it? Whew! It was tiring to re-live what happened? do you have your own blog?
Hi PJ,
Thanks for the Shrew stuff. I was trying to get reviews online, but came up with nothing. Ah well.
Your production sounds miles better than mine. Actually, I kind of went head to head with the director a number of times just trying to find the point of it all. Her solution was just to reverse-gender cast, you know, Petruccio played by a woman, with a man as Kate. Har-bloody-har. But politically, I thought that a copout. I mean, swapping seats doesn't solve anything because the problem of gender subjugation remains. Ah well. Compounding my loathing for the show was the fact that I had to wear this dress seemingly straight out of a brothel production of West Side Story. Some things you can't relegate successfully into the past.
There's a book that I read which was very helpful in preparation: Clamorous Voices by Carolyn Rutter. It talks about Shakespeare's bloshier women. Read it and see what you think.
Sadly, laziness prevents me from having a blog. Always happy to read others though.
What are you working on now?
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