MusicArtes Inc’s twinbill production ‘La Voix Humaine’ and ‘Boses’: A masterful blend of classical and contemporary traditions of theatre

La Voix Humaine, which translates to “the human voice”, features a woman distraught from a breakup with her paramour. Anonymous throughout the play and referred to only as Elle (or “she” in French), the protagonist speaks with the phone operator and later her lover through a wired telephone. The monologic opera follows the last conversation the protagonist had with her ex-lover, where she lies about going out with a friend the other night when, in truth, she has attempted to commit suicide, and unravels the protagonist’s internal conflicts—about her enduring romantic feelings, how she is taking care of herself post-breakup, and if she’s ultimately ending her life.

The original material, which considers the significance of the telephone’s technology, has Poulenc and Cocteau’s postmodern aesthetic. Kay Balajadia, a renowned soprano and lawyer, under the musical direction of Arthur Espiritu, a globally-prominent opera artist from the Philippines, channelled the extreme emotional range of a single human experience quite challengingly in this production. Being a story told through the lens of a one-sided telephone conversation, La Voix Humaine unsettles audiences in connecting with the protagonist.

“She has waited for three nights to express everything within,” shares Juan. “In half-gaslighting, half-unearthing of all she feels, she grieves, sighs, lies to appear strong, tries to express victory over her pain, then betrays the truth that she has lied about little things no longer able to fill up the depth and vacuum of her pain and solitude,” he continues.

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Balajadia’s portrayal was honest and straightforward. Countertext was deeply hidden in her pauses and later fleshed out unsurprisingly. It makes her soliloquy something to follow closely instead of being interpreted simultaneously. Hence, watching Balajadia express the peak of her frustrations in high notes felt cathartic as it was a long-overdue unravelling of her heart.

Meanwhile, drag artist Brigiding debuts in a professionally produced straight play by delivering Juan’s contemporary re-set of Boses. The Filipino monologue puts Cocteau’s original material into local and digital context, with minor changes, such as the telephone operator becoming an undisclosed companion of her lover and the telephone turning into a cellular phone accessible with Bluetooth earphones.

“How to lie on the cellphone? How to dis-engage from that device which we think is our world and our truth? How to gaslight and ghost?” Juan asks.

Brigiding opened the monologue with a lip-sync performance of I Am What I Am, the iconic torch song from the Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles, an adaptation of the 1973 French play of the same name. Besides this, the French connection remained in the Filipino version through Brigiding’s ad-lib line that she ate pares with her friend. But more profoundly, Brigiding altered the protagonist’s characterisation by making her change clothes onstage—revealing skin to the audience down to her unabashed truths.

“Now, in the time of AI, trolls, doom-scrolling, woke [generation] and GenZ, I am triggered to adapt the piece for a pan-woman who is able to objectify her actions by dividing the persona between self and role,” Juan says.

Brigiding portrayed the character with more complexities and more apparent countertext. Teeming with more intensity even without singing the lines, Brigiding’s monologue was laden with pain and the struggle to get out of it. Ultimately, she laughs at the end—contrasting Balajadia’s implication of dying on the sofa chair—and throws the phone mightily on the floor as it continues to ring.

“Brigiding emerges victorious, self-emerging from the cellphone rage,” the director comments.

Juan dared to change the narrative of the play but seemed to retain Cocteau and Poulenc’s intention of mirroring modern society. Internationally acclaimed for his adaptations of Shakespearean plays, other renowned operas, and world dramas, Juan once again proved that theatre is a vehicle of change.

“I will do this in the future—with a tenor,” teases Juan. “I have always dared [to open] doors. So why not? Let’s listen to the voice. And the utterances heard and unheard: the base of words,” Juan said.

La Voix Humaine and Boses are being performed at the Mirror Theatre Studio from February 15 to 16, 22 to 23, 28, and March 1. Visit ticket2me.net for more details.

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