All the world's a stage for Sipat Lawin Ensemble

The crescent moon gleamed sharply against the inky black night. Inside the old walls of Intramuros, people around me sank to the ground, splattering sticky red blood on my shirt. Three were already dead, and I couldn't tell how many more were dying all around me. I walked around slowly, helplessly. And then my fiancé killed me. Earlier that night we arrived to a merry scene. People were sitting on the ground or on the wall's thick edges, waiting patiently. Maria arrived from the province to inquire about her long-overdue promotion, only to find herself breathlessly running through a bureaucratic obstacle course. Then the animals took over, and everyone sang e-i-e-i-o, until the man with a gun stormed in. We watched star-crossed lovers as they danced and kissed in the moonlight. Sisa ran through the crowd, searching for her children. A girl sang of her unrequited love, and we sang with her. Some of us even danced with guns to our heads.

By now you've probably gathered that this is no letter from the dead, but a retelling of scenes from a show - several plays, in fact, which are all part of Sipat Lawin Ensemble's Season 2000-XI Launch. At the launch last Friday, Sipat Lawin staged excerpts from six of their plays for this season, beginning with "Pragres," based on National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose's short story "Progress." "Pragres" is the painfully true, sidesplitting tale of a teacher's journey from the province to Manila, where she makes a wholehearted but futile attempt to secure her promotion. "May nagbago ba?" the audience is asked at the end. As it is introduced by Sipat Lawin's artistic director JK Anicoche, it is "ang walang-kamatayang Pragres," which they will continue to stage until progress becomes a reality. This season includes the cult musical "Manhid," where The Eraserheads first performed their hit song "Kailan." "Manhid" was staged by UP Tropa, founded in 1989 by acclaimed theater and film director Auraeus Solito. In Sipat Lawin's version, members from the audience are invited to dance at gunpoint. Sipat Lawin is not a fan of the division between the stage and the audience. In fact, the stage is almost always non-existent, as their performances are site-specific. They've performed in living rooms, parking lots, and streets; at some point, the plays require audience participation. For shy types, they provide Jonas Burgos masks. Should a member of the audience choose to wear the mask, hiding behind the face of the disappeared activist, the rest of us are suddenly jolted awake, and the fact that what we are seeing is no play but real life. Though the plays are not without a healthy dose of humor, especially the terribly funny but unfortunately time-bound "r0m3ow LUVZ JuLz," Sipat Lawin's performances are never without depth or meaning. Imperio Animalia, their device-work adaptation of G. Orwell's Animal Farm, is both timeless and timely, and asks questions we should be asking. The story of how some animals are more equal than others is told in both English and Filipino, incorporating popular music like the Spice Girls' "Stop." But this is not a love story, so the lyrics are changed to "stop right now, thank you very much, I need somebody with an animal touch. Hey you, always with a gun got to slow it down baby got to have our farm." It sounds strange, and to see it is even stranger, but the experience is most definitely memorable. Of course, the best was saved for last, and everyone gamely joined the killer game in "Battalia Royale," Sipat Lawin's take on Koushun Takami's 1999 novel Battle Royale. The launch was short and sweet, the perfect taste of things to come. As Anicoche said, they don't make plays. They create experiences. Sipat Lawin Ensemble is composed of young Theater Arts alumni of the Philippine High School for the Arts and their collaborators. They create new works for the stage that are meant to be performed in alternative spaces, developing a shared urban community theater experience among artists and audiences. - YA, GMA News For updates and this season's schedule, please visit their official page at Sipat Lawin Inc.