T: Isadorah “Isah” Dong-Can, Amor de Sangre, Marikit “Kit” Evangelista, Hapunta “Happy” Fuentes
B: Narciso “Ciso” Dong-Can, Philippe “Pipay” Organza, Charleston “Chonggo” Go, Dr. Beaumont “Dr. Beau” Batoctol
“Lakatan, saba, señorita, wateber…it’s the same banana!”
- Amor de Sangre on her views on cosmetic surgery
Last Saturday I was able to catch up on my culture and watched a theatrical play. Okay, I was REQUIRED to catch up on my culture and watched a theatrical play. But it was well worth it. For its 40th theater season, the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) is showing Vincent de Jesus’ Skin Deep.
The play is about an internationally famous Filipino cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Beau Batoctol, who invites seven lucky people to avail of all beauty treatments, procedure and surgeries absolutely free in his state-of-the-art, one-stop beauty resort in the Philippines: the Skin Deep Beauty Sanctuary. The lucky seven were composed of Kit, an obese call-center agent; Isah and Ciso, a troubled married couple; Chonggo, a male-model-wannabe; Pipay, a gay florist; Happy, an abused wife burned beyond recognition; and Amor, the reigning Ms. Artificial Beauty. The promise of beauty and a better life entices each participant indifferent depths, but after their procedures they realized that beauty is not as it seems: it comes at a price and is always only skin deep.
I especially loved the performance of May Bayot-De Castro (Amor de Sangre) she was exceptional! Her singing literally sent shivers down my spine and her acting was most convincing. Her character’s decision to undergo surgery not to “improve” another asset, but to reconstruct her appearance to its original appearance prior to more than 50 minor surgeries, was one of my favorite scenes. Her character represented the superficiality of the human being but also shows that beneath the exterior is a paining soul seeking nothing but happiness.
Robert Seña’s (Ciso) and Isay Alvarez’ (Isah) performances were both great. Save for Robert’s frequent showers of mercy (see salivary bursts) during his dialogues, I have nothing else against his performance. His “kissing scene” with Chonggo raised the temperature level inside the theater so much I was surprised not to see the sprinklers go off. Isay’s portrayal of a meek, underappreciated wife was kind of depressing especially since I often see her as the funny and bubbly type. The scene in which Isah finally decided to have her body assessed by Dr. Beau’s beauty assessment laser was one of the most dramatic scenes I have ever seen in theater. It was so moving and kind of makes you think: would I do the same?
Bituin Escalante’s (Kit) witty remarks were funny but somehow ebbed away along with her fats in the play. Her call-center aura somehow vanished in the second part of the play, maybe to show that along with the physical change also came change in the way she interacts with other people. Perhaps due to her chubby exterior she would hide in the mask of education by speaking in high falutin English to assert herself to other people who might mock her.
Phil Noble’s (Pipay) performance of the flamboyant florist also gave lots of humor to the play. His fixation with finding true love is a sentiment shared by a lot of people, homosexual or otherwise. Is it possible to find true love in reality or virtual reality despite age or physical appearance? If not, then why do people still commit the same mistake over and over again. Perhaps because of hope…or desperation. His ala rock star costume in the second part was nice.
The promdi (from the province) character of Red Anderson (Chonggo) is something people would often mock. What is so bad about coming from the province? Nothing. But for a lot of people a person’s accent is a good enough basis to judge one’s personality and humanity. Red’s appearance in the stage was a good eye candy, his acting performance was also good. His “kissing scene” with Robert and almost naked scene sent heat waves in the theater. His character’s love interest with that of Bituin’s was a waste of good genes, it was good no love blossomed (haha!).
Diana Malahay (Happy) along with May provided much of the drama in the play. She epitomized the pains and hurts of women who are abused but is able to rise from the ashes to start life anew. Her performance was great in the start but somehow mellowed in the second part. But I have to give her credit for wearing a prosthetic mask under a wrap-around veil. That must have been hot!
Lastly, Melvin Lee as Dr. Beau was like a modern Dr. Jekyll without having to transform into Mr. Hyde. His character, as well as his nursing staff, was so creepy! The closing act in which he tasted his own blood was so disturbing, I loved it! His character’s persona is everything a modern mad scientist would be: rich, successful, powerful and too good to be true. He was the devil in a doctor’s clothes. I somehow thought to myself what if Vicki Belo or Manny Calayan would become like him… now wouldn’t that be fun?!
The musical score was awesome I especially liked Amor’s rendition of Don’t Take It Out on Me and the stars’ performance of Touch Me, Doc. There was just the right touch of perkiness in every dance move and the laser light display was just enthralling. It sort of reminded me of the movie Alien. The stage was minimalist placing focus not on the surroundings but on the actors. The gym scene was very witty, the actors played as gym machines just as the other actors acted out their lines. The slow motion effect done in the jogging scene was also very good in refreshing. The variety in styles of scene direction breaks the monotony of the physical stage’s setting.
Vanity covers up what we don’t want other people to see. But at the end of the day we would still feel it. Others might not see it, but we can, even beneath the surgeries and layers of foundation. We should learn to accept who and what we are. There are some things better left unchanged. In the words of Happy: “Parang cross stitch, maganda sa harap pero buhol-buhol at magulo sa likod.”
* photos were originally taken by Jojit Lorenzo and then edited by me…
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