Virgin Labfest 5: The School of Life/Mga Dulang Walang Pinag-aralan

Inexperienced, but willing. Gibbs gave this Virgin Labfest virgin a ticket to the first show of the first set of "Untried, Untested, Unstaged Plays" at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on the condition that she blogs about it. (It's hard to refuse a good deal if you have an afternoon free and no expectations.) To relieve the awkwardness of the encounter, VLF5 Artistic Director Rody Vera introduced the festival and summed up the afternoon's offerings with these words: In the Philippines, schooling and education are two different things.

At the Virgin Labfest, CCP's resident theater company Tanghalang Pilipino and playwrights' group Writer's Bloc stage new works for two weeks, mostly at the Tanghalang Huseng Batute. On VLF's fifth year, there are also staged readings, unannounced site-specific works called Fragments, and a re-run of selected Virgin Labfest 4 plays, which I hope to catch next week.

The fifteen plays are thematically divided into five trilogies with intriguing titles:

Set A: School of Life/Mga Dulang Walang Pinag-aralan
Set B: It's Complicated/The Buhul-Buhol Trilogy
Set C: Blood Sports/Trilohiyang Diniguan
Set D: The Family that ____s Together/Tatlong Dulang Walang Diyos
Set E: Life is a Trap/Three Plays in Search of Escape

Anyone who has passed through the Philippine education system will find the stories in Set A comfortingly (or uncomfortably) familiar--a cheating incident, a last music lesson, an unusual class day re-imagined.

Oggie Arcenas' Isang Mukha ng Pandaraya makes its case against academic dishonesty with a pseudo-legal battle between a social climber and a poor prostitute. Arcenas gives the offense the serious treatment it requires. Under the direction of Roli Inocencio, the play unfolds like clockwork after a slow start, with symmetrical blocking that does little to hide the obvious inequalities between honor student Isadora (Anna Deroca) and the principled Amor (Kat Castillo), and the ties that bind their defenders, Atty. Roel (Randy Villarama) and Atty. Charlie (Eric V. Dela Cruz). True characters are exposed not at the disciplinary tribunal but in the restroom, where the juicy bits show how closely linked the opposing forces are. I caught myself deriving guilty pleasure from the catfights before I realized how worrying it is that hair-pulling and name-calling are legitimately entertaining. Only saints' bodies are incorruptible, and not even the cellphone-toting Judge (Jef Henson Dee) escapes the unmistakable stench of the system.

The audience, seeing through the character assassination and assaults to logic that lawyers resort to, reaches a verdict early on. But the predictability does not make the story less worth telling. The play, which I assumed to be based on recent actual events at UP from the university documents presented, gives an academic dimension I never saw before in the class divide. I wonder how closely the real story resembles it.

Ang Huling Lektyur ni Misis Reyes is a one-woman swansong with heart, as well as references to other body parts. In my mind the title character (Marjorie Ann Lorico) embodies the teacher who is a born performer (and there are many of them). Playwright Tim Dacanay compresses a number of personal issues that remind the viewer that despite teachers' eccentricities, they are people, too. Using light changes and an effective soundtrack (though there are occasional lapses in sound quality and cueing), the protagonist's monologues make her completely human. Director Hazel Gutierrez should be proud of this little production, which is undoubtedly the climax of the set. As a yoga-practicing music teacher whose last message to her high school seniors delves into sex education, Lorico has an unlimited supply of energy and sincerity. Let's hope she gets more roles as meaty as this one.

MPC (Mababang Paaralan ng Caniogan) is the inaccurate representation of playwright Job Pagsibigan's childhood that he probably prefers to the actual events. Unfortunately, his alter-ego Felix (Acey Aguilar) is too square and weak for impish Erwin (Abner Delina) and the ever-smiling Didai (Isabelle Martinez). The three brave the lightning storm and give Ms. Magnaye (Sheenly Vee Gener) much-needed support in dancing "Who Are the People In Your Neighborhood?" for her teaching demo. Nar Cabico is pure-character as school superintendent Mr. Catacutan.

Directed by Kristine Balmes of the Sipat Lawin Ensemble, MPC has an unsettling mix of realistic and stylized elements. While I enjoyed the use of popular dance steps, the toilet humor shaves off the plus points. It seems to me that the play could work better as a film with chases in double speed and big reaction shots.

The order of performance seems like a regression from college to high school to grade six, from drama to slapstick. Would I have it any other way? No. The playwrights, all Labfest second-timers, did their homework. They made the material easy to digest by reviewing what we already know. We know the power of fraternity "brads". We know which side of the RH Bill Mrs. Reyes and Sister Principal would be on. We know that not all plays set in the classroom need moral lessons. The School of Life shows the symptoms of the nation's ills in miniature. As a whole, Mga Dulang Walang Pinag-aralan is more studied than it admits itself to be. That suits the nerd in me just fine. I might learn to be a VLF groupie with a little more time.

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While leafing through the program, a thought crossed my mind. There should be more female playwrights! Imagine the shock I got when I came across this NYT article. I hope it's not true here.

[Update] Laura Collins-Hughes blogs her reaction to the study and the media attention that followed. No theatrics, no finger-pointing.