Campus theater: A dark ‘aswang’ tale
It is dark in the space which passes for a stage, with only a pin light overhead. Silhouettes in black, their legs apart, surround the impromptu stage; a net separates them from the audience. There is a plethora of crucifixes above—instruments of piety or, more sinisterly, symbols to drive away evil spirits.
Soon the forest comes alive and the creatures appear, slithering, groaning, grunting and snorting. There is mood music, approximating the noise and the chaos unfolding. There is singing, chatting. There is a dog, Aso (Arvin Javier); a cat, Pusa (Davewyn Macawile); and a wild boar, Baboy Ramo (Jonas Cunanan).Then there is a pivotal figure, the Aswang (witch, sorceress), Brigita Marilla alternating that evening with Diane Andallo.
This is “Ang Unang Aswang” (The First Sorceress), a production of the Far Eastern University (FEU) Theater Guild, written by Rody Vera and directed and choreographed by Dudz Teraña with Peta (Philippine Educational Theater Association)-like flair. It is showing at the studio of the FEU Engineering Building until today (Dec. 9).
The Aswang issues a Cassandra-like warning that the forest is in danger, presumably the danger is posed by man. It is a dangerous forest ruled by the wilderness. And the sorceress, who is vulnerable, searches for her identity in a village she has not been to before. She is also, it seems, in search of love.
Tragic love affair
Enter the young man (Binata), who is actually married. He, too, is in search of something, complaining that he has been in the forest for four days now. He is dressed in the native wear of the 19th century; why, he can pass for a Katipunero or even for Basilio, the eldest son of Sisa in “Noli Me Tangere” by Rizal.Teraña’s direction is over the top at times and there is a lot of screaming, grunting and groveling among the creatures of the forest. The director makes great demands on the actors, all students, is at home with them (or they are at home with him), and they respond with great skill (and with lung power). This is a very physical play.
The Aswang falls for the Binata, they make love but eventually he spurns her. So it is a tragic, one-sided love affair, with a tinge of sadness and anguish, and expressed through dance and music. She bears him a son, and during a night of wild dancing, she kills the infant.
In the play’s final scenes, all the audience can see is a gigantic blue veil which undulates because the denizens of the forest are cavorting beneath it. Then the actors fall to the ground, a white light pierces the scene bathed in blue, and a form clothed in virginal white slowly emerges.
The form of the now blue-and-white veil becomes almost triangular, pyramidal in shape. Some of the followers can be glimpsed lying flat on the ground, covered while others are now visible on the ground, hailing what seems to be an unholy icon.
The spurned woman rises, and stands almost majestically as she intones, “Ako ang unang aswang.” (I am the first sorceress). —CONTRIBUTED INQCall tel. 0947-2985003; visit feutheaterguild.com.
