Weeks before election day, Tanghalang Pilipino filmed its restaging of Layeta Bucoy's voter's education one-act play 'Doc Resurreccion: Gagamutin ang Bayan' and has made it available on a video-on-demand platform. Here are our thoughts about it:
The Tanghalang Pilipino Actors Company has recently returned to doing live stage performances after two-year hiatus by a restaging of the 2009 Virgin Labfest original and Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature 1st Placer Doc Resurreccion: Gagamutin ang Bayan. Written by Layeta Bucoy, this one-act play tackles political campaign strategies, sentiments and opinions of varying demographics of Filipino voters, and explores democracy and the current socio-economic state of the country.
Filmed onstage at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the play was made available for viewing via Ticket2Me as live theatres are still discouraged as of date due to the continuing spread of COVID-19. Nevertheless, the actors and production staff were all thrilled to "come home" to the theatre at least for a few days to shoot the film. The cast includes two-time PhilStage Gawad Buhay winner Marco Viaña, 12-time PhilStage Gawad Buhay nominee Jonathan Tadioan, Gawad Urian awardee and Tanghalang Pilipino's artistic director Nanding Josef, Gawad Buhay awardee Sherry Lara, and two-time Gawad Buhay nominee Lhorvie Nuevo.
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Premiered on Easter Sunday, the play's 2022 restaging was directed by multi-awarded writer and director Dennis Marasigan with Gawad Urian and Star Awards winner Pong Ignacio as its Director of Photography. Multi-awarded designer Ohm David took the helm of its production design, depicting a house situated in a poverty-stricken area standing on a polluted body of water on the city's fringes. Meanwhile, five-time Philstage Gawad Buhay winner TJ Ramos composed and directed its musical scoring.
The story follows two Resurreccion cousins, Doc Jess (Viaña) and Boy Pogi (Tadioan), who are competing for the mayoral position of their city. As the story progresses, we learn that there is a third candidate in the elections, the incumbent mayor who is known for his greed and lust for power. The play is set at the house of Boy Pogi and his wife Elsa (Nuevo), where his parents Papang (Josef) and Mamang (Lara) also live. As election day approaches, Doc Jess pays Boy Pogi a surprise visit bringing with him some gifts. The latter suddenly becomes suspicious and so he tries to squeeze the truth out of his cousin. Ultimately, Doc Jess bargains with Boy Pogi, asking him to step down from the mayoral race as he is just a nuisance candidate paid by the incumbent mayor.
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