Tanghalang Pilipino with Insiang

Gibbs Cadiz of the Philippine Daily Inquirer has chosen Tanghalang Pilipino’s restaging of Insiang as his choice for the Best Full Length Play of 2007 and Insiang actor Mailes Kanapi as the Best Female Actor in a Play.

Mailes Kanapi as Insiang’s Mother Pacing I just had to seek out Mailes Kanapi after the Tanghalang Pilipino and Bright Eyed Boys Events and Ideas production of Insiang, which I saw on its last performance on 09 December 2007 at the CCP.

When I finally got to see Mailes backstage, I could only caress her hair repeatedly as I said again and again, “Ang ganda ganda mo (you’re so beautiful).” (Oh, don’t worry, we know each other.)

Insiang playwright Mario O’Hara’s depiction of the Pacing character is unrelenting and unforgiving, and Mailes bravely forged on, with memorable moments such as the character’s carnality as she and her lover fucked in the shanty’s second floor bedroom, the mesmerizing silences in the rare moments of solitude, the hoarse voice on the verge of disappearing as the character slips into emotional distress, the helpless writhing on the floor as she kicks her daughter in anger…

Gibbs Cadiz called Mailes Kanapi’s performance a tour de force.

The Gritty Insiang Set “Ang baho (It stinks),” mock complained the theatergoer seated on the bleachers below me.

Such was the realism of the Insiang set by Bobot Lota that that one’s senses is buffeted with its sensurround and surreal stimuli. The bleachers where I was seated had hung wash overhead, the pole a couple of feet away had Filipino graffiti, the shanties facades’ had stolen tarpaulins from the telecommunications companies, there was even a faucet that actually spouted water, and one even hears the actors’ improvised lines as they passed from behind.

The audience was immediately enfolded in the environment that became the scene of the familiar and yet unfamiliar, a microcosm of Philippine society that is easily recognizable and painfully memorable.

A totally overwhelming experience that it still renders one slightly incoherent and/or into a rambling creature…

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