Ampalaya Monologues is for the young & lovelorn

MANILA, Philippines – Ang ampalaya, a.k.a bitter gourd. This vegetable is good for the health, and medical specialists say it is a cure for diabetes. But it’s not delicious; it needs an acquired taste. Some eat ampalaya only because they are forced to, or have to. Its bitter taste makes the veggie an ideal title for a touring episodic play called Ampalaya Monologues, a project of the Theater in Alternative Platforms.

The work is all about “love, heartaches and bitterness.”

The show by Mark Ghosn, writer and lead performer, has been staged in bars and other venues in Metro Manila and nearby provinces like Cavite, gaining more audiences among the young to lovelorn. The monologues are bittersweet stories told to Mark, and these he transforms into a solo showpiece for a young actor (more often actress).

So, one by one, the performer goes up to the stage, platform or whatever, and pours out his or her heart to the audience.

To celebrate its first anniversary, “Ampalaya Monologues will be staged for one night only (Oct. 15, 6 p.m.) at the PETA Theater Center (Behind the Quezon City Sports Club on E. Rodriguez Ave.) It was announced at a recent press launch at Sikat Studios, Quezon City. Musicians will accompany the spoken-word artists.

The monologues have titles like Panata ng Pusong Bagong Laya, Hindi Pwedeng Hindi Na,Violet ang Color ng Pag-ibig, Akin ka Nalang Please and Inukit sa mga Tala.

During the press launch, three actresses, Janine Lloce, R’love Rojas and Rain Gutierrez, and Mark himself acted out some of the monologues. One girl complained “mahirap mag-move on” while another, playing a widow, wondered why her husband was not making himself felt (“bakit hindi nagpaparamdam”). A third cried out “broken-hearted na ako... lalong lumalabo.”

Mark performed the most emotional of the stories, playing a gay abandoned by his lover: “Kaya ko rin mabuhay kung wala. Sasama ako sa kaibigan kahawig mo. Handa na ako. Hindi na ako iiyak dahil sa iyo. Maya ulit ang puso ko!”

Ampalaya Monologues is strictly for the young and the lovelorn. As for the mature audiences who are still young at heart, perhaps they too will recall the time they had loved and lost (and perhaps loved again?).