Digesting modern-day politics through theater
By Janine Marcelle M. Baluyan
When the most important flicks happen, never dare to blink an eye.
And when political issues blur one’s sight, try to open widely your eyes.
“Never blink an eye because you just might miss an important detail being unraveled before you,” said Tuxqs Rutaquio, director of the highly-controversial play “Walang Kukurap” written by Quentin Tarantino’s female version Layeta Bucoy.
As the title suggests, it tells the audience not to blink even for a second during the 92-minute stage play to not miss out a detail, which still runs at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
“Walang Kukurap” is a modern-day representation of Noli Me Tangere’s San Diego. Rutaquio said that the challenge for him as a director lies on making the town a character itself.
“The scenes are bits and pieces of the town’s persona, the little characteristics that create its wholeness. More than pushing the plot, the scenes are broken down according to those characteristics, with the characters much like those of people of San Diego representing cancerous cells eating the whole town from the insides.”
He said that it focuses not on an individual but on a town which is akin to Jose Rizal’s San Diego, a microcosm of Philippine society, a small unit which embodies the different forms of corruption prevalent in the whole archipelago.
The play is a suspense thriller that coalesce traditional theater and live interviews plus unscripted performances that blurs the lines between fiction and reality. Based on the findings of artist-researchers, testimonials from government whistleblowers and anonymous syndicate insiders, the play creates a mind-bending analysis of corruption and graft.
Having careened her attention on political blogger Christopher Bonoan’s proposition about Article 11 Section 1 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, Bucoy’s highly-political play reminds the audience that public officers and employees must serve with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and lead a modest life.
Bucoy tells that “Walang Kukurap” offers a map, which paints a familiar road laden with cracks and bumps punctuated with corruption and opportunism, to a journey towards a solution and towards understanding the very road itself. Those inside every crack or bump are more realities that are at times too ordinary or too familiar that people just skip or tend to ignore.
“The aim of “Walang Kukurap” is not to inspire or to lead, it simply aims to unsettle. As the cracks and bumps are magnified in the road we share, the decision regarding what to do with them rests in each one of us. To be inspired is to be led towards a specific goal. To be disturbed is to be forced to decide on what should be the goal,” she said.
Part of the cast are veteran theater actors Suzette Ranillo, Sherry Lara, Delphine Buencamino, Lou Veloso, Mymy Davao, Sharmaine Suarez, Ding Navasero, Crispin Pineda, Paulo Cabañero, Pewee O’Hara, Nonoy Froilan, and Ced Torrecarion. Famous rapper Gloc-9 whose songs focus on social issues and injustices is featured on special dates.
When the most important flicks happen, never dare to blink an eye.
And when political issues blur one’s sight, try to open widely your eyes.
“Never blink an eye because you just might miss an important detail being unraveled before you,” said Tuxqs Rutaquio, director of the highly-controversial play “Walang Kukurap” written by Quentin Tarantino’s female version Layeta Bucoy.
As the title suggests, it tells the audience not to blink even for a second during the 92-minute stage play to not miss out a detail, which still runs at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
“Walang Kukurap” is a modern-day representation of Noli Me Tangere’s San Diego. Rutaquio said that the challenge for him as a director lies on making the town a character itself.
“The scenes are bits and pieces of the town’s persona, the little characteristics that create its wholeness. More than pushing the plot, the scenes are broken down according to those characteristics, with the characters much like those of people of San Diego representing cancerous cells eating the whole town from the insides.”
He said that it focuses not on an individual but on a town which is akin to Jose Rizal’s San Diego, a microcosm of Philippine society, a small unit which embodies the different forms of corruption prevalent in the whole archipelago.
The play is a suspense thriller that coalesce traditional theater and live interviews plus unscripted performances that blurs the lines between fiction and reality. Based on the findings of artist-researchers, testimonials from government whistleblowers and anonymous syndicate insiders, the play creates a mind-bending analysis of corruption and graft.
Having careened her attention on political blogger Christopher Bonoan’s proposition about Article 11 Section 1 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, Bucoy’s highly-political play reminds the audience that public officers and employees must serve with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and lead a modest life.
Bucoy tells that “Walang Kukurap” offers a map, which paints a familiar road laden with cracks and bumps punctuated with corruption and opportunism, to a journey towards a solution and towards understanding the very road itself. Those inside every crack or bump are more realities that are at times too ordinary or too familiar that people just skip or tend to ignore.
“The aim of “Walang Kukurap” is not to inspire or to lead, it simply aims to unsettle. As the cracks and bumps are magnified in the road we share, the decision regarding what to do with them rests in each one of us. To be inspired is to be led towards a specific goal. To be disturbed is to be forced to decide on what should be the goal,” she said.
Part of the cast are veteran theater actors Suzette Ranillo, Sherry Lara, Delphine Buencamino, Lou Veloso, Mymy Davao, Sharmaine Suarez, Ding Navasero, Crispin Pineda, Paulo Cabañero, Pewee O’Hara, Nonoy Froilan, and Ced Torrecarion. Famous rapper Gloc-9 whose songs focus on social issues and injustices is featured on special dates.