If last year’s Virgin Labfest ‘Yakap’ was an exclusively streaming event, thanks to the health restrictions still in force in 2021, this year’s 17th Virgin Labfest ‘Hinga’ is a joyous hybrid celebration of bringing back live performances, while maintaining the online aspect so that wider audiences can still be tapped. Audiences that enjoy and look forward to this yearly incubation expo of untried, untested, and unstaged works.
Virgin Labfest has always been about being daring and experimental, for astute programming and providing support for the development of plays and theater that help define and defy the times - a barometer for the theater of our near-future. And this 2022 has new festival directors charting the course. Marco Viaña and Tess Jamias are the festival directors this year, the first time a woman has assumed the role, and the first time that the directorship has been shared.
Marco Viaña and Tess Jamias, Virgin Labfest Festival directors.
The live performing of the four sets of plays was done from June 16 to 26 at the CCP Tanghalang Huseng Batute, and the online streaming commenced on June 30, available until the 10th of July. So take note of this July 10, as you only have a few more days to head to Ticket2Me, and stream the Sets A-D that were recorded in high definition.
I personally got to view the Set B first, and it’s a wonderful set of three auspicious plays. First up is the sobering Liberation of Jerry O’Hara, directed by Dennis Marasigan. Set in February 1945, it depicts the grim realities of Manila as American forces were liberating the city from the clutches of the Japanese soldiers. It’s a potent reminder of how we are all victims when it comes to the war, and that there are prices to be paid.
Absurdo: Event Day is directed by Mara Agleham, based on the play written by BJ Crisostomo. The premise is quite precious - it’s the Apocalypse, the End of Days, and Aly and Rain are party coordinators still working for the End Of the World Party. It’s actually one of a trilogy of plays set in the event industry, and how crazy and ridiculous it can be here in the Philippines. I admired the concept behind this, but didn’t understand why everyone had to be so loud and ‘over’ - perhaps it’s part of the exuberance of performing live again.
Last, and my favorite, of Set B is Juan Ekis and his Nay, May Dala Akong Pancit, directed by Karl Jingco. It’s a time loop, Groundhog Day device, but used in a Pinoy soap opera trope. It’s a typical couple reliving the moment when the pancit arrives and causes the death of their mother. It’s gleeful, ridiculous fun, and it works like a charm, as no matter what they do, the pancit keeps showing up. If anything, my comment here would be how the okay stretches, when I had already counted one scene that would have made the perfect curtain drops.
At a time when we don’t see any Filipino film release on the horizon, it’s gratifying to have content such as the Virgin Labfest as a streaming option. It’s original, it’s Pinoy, and it’s good fun.