POWER PLAY Ang Batang Pulis (Gio Gahol) and Ang Drag Queen (Phi Palmos) in Floy Quintos' Laro, directed by John Mark Yap

By Alex Amansec
Photos by Kyle Venturillo

Barefoot Theater Collaborative’s first-ever Pride Plays, a twin-bill production consisting of the plays Unica Hijas and Laro, is an empowering invitation to more intimate spaces as we celebrate the stories and experiences of the LGBTQIA+ community this June.

Written by Mikaela Regis, Unica Hijas is a one-act play that features the story of two lesbians in a secret relationship who are being called into the principal’s office after getting caught in an “almost-kiss” at your given all-girls Catholic high school run by nuns in the Philippines.

LOVE WINS Mitch (Ash Nicanor) and Nikki (Joy Delos Santos) in Mikaela Regis' Unica Hijas, directed by Pat Valera

First staged last year during the CCP’s Virgin Labfest, the Gawad Buhay award-winning director Pat Valera brings it back to the stage just in time for the celebration of Pride Month.

The play opens with the dreamy, infectious charisma of Mitch (Ash Nicanor) who carries a free-spirited attitude. Her girlfriend, Nikki (Joy Delos Santos), is the more reserved and cautious type of person, creating that contrast between the characters we’re all familiar with. A trope that is frequently misused as a superficial, by-the-book tool in many, many love stories, Nicanor and Delos Santos’ chemistry breathes life into the dynamic, carving a depth in their connection that exceeds the consistent “kilig” moments. Nicanor’s charm, through the subtle nuances of her onstage quirks and habits, authentically erodes into moments of painful fragility that loudly echo into the emotions of the audience. Delos Santos completely owns the stage by following up in the opposite way, triumphantly breaking out of her character’s shell through brave declarations of love.

The creative and versatile set design, created by Tata Tuviera, playfully taps into the imagination of the audience as the actors move the pieces around smoothly (and quite satisfyingly) onstage. Rainbow hues dance around the stage through D Cortezano’s lighting design, notably with the cool, eye-catching neon signs that add a touch of youthful grit and shrewd vulgarity to illuminate the narrative. The song “Kasintahanan,” composed by the same actor who sang it and covered by sound designer Mijon Tangye, plucked chords not just on Mitch’s guitar strings, but also in the hearts of everyone watching with a mesmerizing tenderness.

“That’s the aspiration, but that is also our introspection,” explained Valera. “It’s sweet, it’s inspiring, it’s hopeful, but the experience of queer people in the Philippines does not end there.”

If Unica Hijas is the ambition, Laro, written by Floy Quintos, is its extreme antithesis. In the words of actor Phi Palmos, the play is a “cautionary tale” that boldly fleshes out the dark narratives of the underground queer scene through a series of two-character vignettes that give us a glimpse into the lives of different men and how they are all intertwined by the same tragedy. First performed nearly two decades ago, director John Mark Yap takes us on an unapologetic inquiry on sex as the rawest form of human transaction, exposing the ugliest sides of our nature while remaining in touch with the yearning for genuine connection that, in the world of Laro and ours, can always seemingly be out of reach.

With a cast more than five times bigger than Unica Hijas, Laro quickly plunges the audience into a whole different genre. Each character does not go by any proper name, but the title of their roles come from different places and classes in society. A power play is set to unfold and said power play is demonstrated most strikingly by the drag queen (Phi Palmos), the partner (Shaun Ocrisma), and the model (André Miguel). Though Palmos, Ocrisma, and Miguel only had two scenes to work with, they were not limited at all, and each dominated the stage with a distinct individuality and versatility that bore the different faces of their characters within just two compelling scenes.

ROUND OF APPLAUSE Directors Pat Valera and John Mark Yap taking the stage at the end of the curtain call

Yap, through the lighting design by D Cortezano, enhances the story of Laro, strategically using spotlights and shadows to create a spectacular chiaroscuro effect during the sensual and sensitive scenes of the play. Being the recurring theme, the physical act of copulation ran a high risk of redundancy, but the movement design by Gio Gahol (who also gave a strong performance as the policeman) was remarkably dynamic and, through the cast’s powerful voices and bodies, felt like a language in itself.

It must be admitted, however, that it was slightly hard to keep up with the narrative by the second act of Laro. With more taboo themes that can leave the audience feeling momentarily lost, these themes may have been tackled better if the characters and their relationships had more time to develop. But time may be another gripe of the production, with the montage of many stories going far over the anticipated runtime of two hours and 45 minutes, reaching around three hours and 40 minutes in total.

Nevertheless, the two productions still manage to come together as an impactful conversation that exists beyond the physical intimacy of the performers onstage. The characters of Unica Hijas and Laro hold up an intimate mirror to the audience with truths that dream, warn, and altogether celebrate.

Barefoot Theater Collaborative’s “Pride Plays” runs on all weekends until June 25 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight in Circuit Makati.