Cover Marco Viaña portrays Doc Jess Resurreccion

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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Above The cast of 'Doc Resurreccion: Gagamutin ang Bayan': Nanding Josef, Lhorvie Nuevo, Jonathan Tadioan, Marco Viaña, and Sherry Lara

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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Above Jonathan Tadioan plays Boy Pogi Resurreccion
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Above Sherry Lara plays Mamang, mother of Boy Pogi

The heated arguments between the cousins, interjections of Elsa, Papang, and Mamang, and the bringing up of their sad family history moved the story forward in highs and lows, giving audiences several chances to silently cast their judgment as to who is more worthy of being the city's next mayor. Ultimately, the play ends on a sombre, chilling note—not only because of the death of a principal character but also because of the realities and questions about our democracy that it leaves to audiences.

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In a private preview for the press by Tanghalang Pilipino, stepping onto the hallowed halls of the theatre after over two years is, in itself, surreal to me. But watching this play live has given me hope that the theatre industry would soon pick up and resume operations as it used to before. The actors shared that their rehearsals via Zoom were difficult as theatrical performances require tactile energy passed onto one another. Coming back to CCP even just for a few days to film is already a blissful experience for them.

Translating also the play to another medium without sacrificing its staged look was also a challenge. They had to render their acting choices in a different way because it would look funny and awkward when viewed on the camera. However, it has given Marasigan a chance to interpret the play again on this second restaging differently than before. Although the material remains the same, the interpretation of the actors and the perspective of the artistic team have been made more resonant to the current times, most particularly to the recently held national and local elections.

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Above Nanding Josef plays Papang, the paternal uncle of Doc Jess and father of Boy Pogi
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Above Lhorvie Nuevo as Elsa, the wife of Boy Pogi and former lover of Doc Jess

Writing this review after the elections have made some elements of the play clearer to me. One of the most important questions that the play raises is what kind of political candidate would you vote for? Is it someone who has lived in the area all his life and continuously imbibes its culture, however rotten it already is? Or will you choose someone who left this wretched place and life to improve his own and suddenly return with the promise of making a transformational change?

Every election campaign period, we are reminded to check our candidates' track record of accomplishments, projects finished, as well as controversial and incriminating issues. As seen in Doc Resurreccion, the past mistakes and triumphs of each character played a heavy role in the judgment calls of the viewers. But the length of the campaign period, tumultuous as it may seem, is just a blink of an eye when the moment of truth comes. We may come prepared when we enter our polling precincts, but only our most significant and deeply etched memories and feelings about a particular candidate finally drive us to either vouch for or condemn him.

The facts are laid, verified and contested as the hour-long conversation between Doc Jess and Boy Pogi progresses. But sometimes, prejudice wins over facts. And no matter how Boy Pogi and Doc Jess tried to make each other understand their individual character developments, hate wins over prejudice. This we can also relate to every campaign period's bickering noises from varying believers and supporters across the spectrum of political ideologies. We may look at the same factual event but have opposing views about it; no matter how the truth is pursued by all parties, we won't be able to meet in between.

This I believe is rooted in the differences in one's perception of morals and character. Both Boy Pogi and Doc Jess may speak about their versions of truth but they vary in their approach to issues, intentions, and moral ascendancy. The sad ending of Doc Resurreccion treads not on the story but on its lasting message: we vote for the one who speaks for our hearts and not for our country.

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