BY JOSE PAOLO S. DELA CRUZ
You may laugh. You may cry. You may even find yourself rolling your eyes every once in a while. But one thing is for certain. Sandbox Collective’s local staging of Duncan MacMillan’s ‘Lungs’ and ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ will definitely strike a chord — or even hit a nerve or two — with just words, actors and the choreographed dimming of the stage lights.
With ‘Lungs,’ you have a couple deciding whether to have or not to have a baby in an already, very polluted, overpopulated world. Over at “Every Brilliant Thing,” you have a child-turned-grown-up lamenting a life plagued by his/her mother’s chronic depression.
Yet for all its drama, these shows — presented as a twin-bill package every weekend from June 15 until July 17 at the Maybank Performing Arts Theater in BGC — maintains a light and entertaining atmosphere; going beyond the doom and gloom that most shows of its kind are wont to utilize.
“The amazing thing about the playwright, Duncan MacMillan, is that he allows directors to contextualize the shows in the locations where they are set. So there are a lot of Filipino references in both shows but the themes in general — mental health, climate change anxiety, hope, resilience — are universal. Both shows are absolutely relatable and it’s been incredible to see the reactions of audience members wiping their tears, laughing their hearts out, interacting,” said Pangasinan Fourth District Rep. Toff De Venecia, who produced the shows.
Lungs
Now on its third local run, “Lungs” returns to the stage with a new ensemble and a new director. “Actors Jake Cuenca and Gabs Santos, and director Andrei Pamintuan, weren’t able to join us in this run but we welcome new cast members for Lungs and even a refreshing directorial take from Caisa Borromeo who was Andrei’s assistant director then,” said De Venecia.
We watched “Lungs,” with Reb Atadero and Sab Jose playing the eco-conscious couple who spent the next hour laying out the pros and cons, the whys and why nots of having a baby. Essentially a play about climate change, “Lungs” is loaded with a number of environmental tidbits that many — let’s be honest — wouldn’t even think of before having a kid.
Yet for all its advocating, the play hits closest to home when it touches on issues of fidelity, grief, loss, and the magic and mayhem of being in a responsible, fully threshed out and seemingly perfect relationship.
Reb and Sab perfectly capture the essence of the perfect, eco-warrior, “good people” couple that would make you think, “are they really happy?” Their characters are all-knowing and noble, and at the same time, annoying. Their conversations, while genuine and purposeful, also make you cringe with their hyper idealism. And by the time that the, ahem, CO2 hits the fan, you feel totally vindicated but also sympathetic of their plight.
Caisa Borromeo, plays a deft hand as a director. She supports the actors with her impeccable use of lights, which dim and flicker during key moments; her masterful use of a stage decorated only by crates; and for seamlessly moving the narrative from one timeframe to another, with just a few pauses and the slightest change of vocal tones.
Much like anyone, I’ve always wanted to listen in on the personal conversations of people who care for deeper causes, if only to prove that it’s all for show. Well, this fictional couple lets me do it finally, and boy was it satisfying!
Every Brilliant Thing
“Our lead actress, Teresa Herrera, reached out to me about doing Every Brilliant Thing (EBT) a thing a few years back. It was one of the top five plays on my shortlist. I thought it was kismet so we ended up doing it a year later. We’re fans of Macmillan’s work,” De Venecia told us. First staged from Feb. 2 to 24, 2019 at the Zobel de Ayala Recital Hall and was extended until March 17, 2019 due to popular demand, EBT was set for second run the following year.
Unfortunately, Teresa didn’t even get to go onstage that time around, because said year was 2020, and theaters, along with the rest of the world were shuttered indefinitely. Three years later, Teresa finally made it onstage for (EBT), along with her alternates, Jon Santos and Kakki Teodoro.
For a show that’s about depression and suicide attempts, EBT is surprisingly light. It is a comedy — an interactive one at that — where members of the audience get to participate in stage magic at varying degrees. This impromptu element, I would guess, makes it more challenging for the lead actor or actress, who now needs not only to be funny and charming, but also quick-witted and engaging.
Kakki Teodoro, who played the lead role during the show we caught, was all these. She was funny and relatable, making it easy for her to coax out emotions from members of the audience. Well, it also helped, perhaps, that some of the audience members present during this show have had previous stage experience (one of them is the beautiful Angel Aquino, who became Kakki’s teacher du jour for this show).
Unlike ‘Lungs,’ EBT, in my opinion, is more effective in integrating facts and numbers into the monologue. The data comes in smaller chunks, simpler in form and therefore easier to remember. The show also brings you to the giddy days of high school romance and pulls you down to great depths of despair effortlessly, thanks to the brilliant directing of Jenny Jamora.
“Both shows are absolutely relatable and it’s been incredible to see the reactions of audience members wiping their tears, laughing their hearts out, interacting and holding space with and for each other,” concludes Toff.
If you haven’t seen the show, then you have two more weekends to go. These shows are definitely a must-see.
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