I. BRIEF DESCRIPTION:

Dulaang UP is the official performing arts group of the country’s premier university in its flagship

campus-University of the Philippines-Diliman. In it’s participation in the university’s celebration of

150th birthday celebration of the country’s national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. It aimed to compromise

different point of views, works and life of Rizal to the current events in our generation today.

The theatrical play covers the innocence of being a child and also the risks that we are taking due

to that innocence. It also narrates to the masses, the suffrage of the Filipino youth, which is based upon

the novel of Rizal, Noli me Tangere in its chapter that covers about the story of Basilio and Crispin.

One of the most astounding and most noticeable performance in the play is the story of three

Filipino women abused: one was raped, was one imprisoned and was abused by her employers, which

is, obviously, a true to life reenactment of Noli’s chapter entitled Sisa, which is about a loving mother

and wife that has fallen into her own depression because of her ill-fated life and eventually loses her

mind.

Also, the play features the statue of Rizal being alive at night and sang about the freedom of his

country from the cancer of society, as it has been his main topic in writing his novels. It also features

his numerous love interests abroad to ignite more the flickering light of Filipino nationalism back here

in our country- all of it, he sacrificed for the sake of his love for the mother land. It connection to this,

the most dramatic of all is the presentation of his great disappointment in loosing his first love, Leonor

Rivera to an Englishman, Kipping-all due to his ferocious fight against the oppressing Spaniards.

All of these and other amazing performance can be witnessed from this opening performance of

Dulaang UP in its 36th season. The play was directed by Dexter M. Santos, who was also the man

behind Orosman at Zafira, another DUP’s product of incredibility.

II. REACTION:

It is my first time watching a theatrical play made by UP students and the waiting I have made to

watch this is not enough to describe how the play worth a thousand claps and an honorable standing

ovation from its audience.

The way the theme of the play has been presented was excellent. As it is noted by its actors first,

it is not the typical story of Rizal, or the common dramatization of his novels, Noli Me Tangere and El

Filibusterismo, rather, it is another way of expressing the ideas that our national hero shared to us

approximately 100 years ago. Though this play, we can prove to ourselves that the message of these

magnanimous novels aren’t just for books and for reading comprehension but is also, one of the best

ways in reflecting our society, not only during the time of Rizal but also during our recent generation.

Also, not for humorous intent, this play also reflects something that is most prominent in our

society today, especially in the young adults. It has been highly noted of Rizal’s sacrificial of his

love life for the motherland. For me, it implies that, to sacrifice a one true love for the sake of a

bigger love may be hurt but may make you proud of your origin and make a better meaning of

your existence. For the young adults of the today, I may say this: “Why should you spend your

whole time for that single person whom you didn’ t even know if it will be yours forever? Isn’t

more significant if you first give yourself to your parents who never stop believing in your own

capacities, to the people who, to their very best, provides you the best environment for your

healthy growth, and to your country which mainly maintain the peacefulness of this country and

provides you this so-called ‘state’ where you can have the liberty to improve yourself. With that,

you will be loved truly, not only by a mere stranger but a bunch of people who respects what you

have done. With this also, by the experiences of your sacrifices have presented, you can now filter

those who are true and those whore are not and may give you more chances and room to

appreciate who you are and those who values you the most.

FRAULINE C. TADLE

2011-04813

BA POLITICAL SCIENCE