RS Francisco returns to Dulaang UP stage

MANILA, Philippines - RS Francisco is adept at the intimate and subdued acting of TV and film. But as an artist, he can’t simply resist the “bigness” a stage performance entails. That’s why when Dulaang UP founding artistic director Tony Mabesa asked him to be part of The Country Wife/Ang Misis Kong Promdi, RS accepted it pronto and psyched himself up to be the  William Wycherley’s Restoration period character named Mr. Sparkish. 

“It feels good to be back,” says RS, whose last Dulaang UP play was 24 years ago. “I felt I was time warped when I entered (the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater at the UPD’s Palma Hall). I was transported back to the time when I was doing plays for Dulaang UP in the early ‘90s. I was doing plays until 1993 like Tempest of William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Temptation. My first big play, which I got paid, was M. Butterfly.”

After that academic year, the Mass Communication student was seen gracing the stage of Repertory Philippines, Atlantis Productions and New Voice Company. RS, son of Sampaguita actor-turned-lawyer Rudy Francisco, who played lolo ni Karen in the iconic McDonald’s commercial, was also sidetracked to other creative works like directing TV commercials. Now, he heads Frontrow company which is into multi-level marketing.         

As a community teacher in the Francis Xavier Pasion film Bwaya

“The business is doing very good now,” says RS. “That’s my bread and butter. So I can pursue my passion, my hobbies and all my other interests.” And on his list is stage acting, which, according to him, is “for the soul.”

“He’s a guy who is full of himself. He is overconfident. And he thinks that the world revolves around him,” says RS of his character. “He is rich but he doesn’t care about other people. What is also interesting about the play is it is a Restoration play, a 16th century play. Even if it is an old play, when Nick (Nicolas) Pichay translated it into Filipino, the themes and the events (in the play) are relevant to this day. They still happen. The storyline literally does not happen anymore, but the underlying messages (remain relevant).”

The Country Wife/Ang Misis Kong Promdi’s stage design and costumes have the feel of the Restoration period, but the entire interpretation is fun, which makes it accessible and relatable to the theater goers. Thanks to director Tony Mabesa and Pichay.  Everyone is in for a good laugh. “There are so many interpretations (people may have) on my character,” RS says. “He is about to get married to a girl but he wants this girl to be fantasized by other men. The character has so many representations. It’s up to the audience (to make their own).”

The play is about the men and women in high society, whose lives are entangled in a paradox of love, marriage, reputation, mores, sexual conduct and politics based on the information Dulaang UP provides. In it are notorious philanderer, an innocent young woman and dimwitted, narcissistic playboy.

Early this year, we watched RS on the big screen as the community teacher in the “quasi-documentary” Bwaya, which was one of the 10 competing films in the New Breed category of 2014 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. He is also part of the upcoming Star Cinema movie Past Tense, starring Xian Lim, Ai-Ai delas Alas and Kim Chiu. Princess & I, however, was his last teleserye on ABS-CBN.

“I learned to change channels,” says RS of his work. “I have to be conscious. Last year, I acted in a teleserye on ABS-CBN where I played an antagonist. I didn’t want to be theatrical which is my orientation, so I had to tell myself that ‘This is TV, this is TV,’ even the slightest nuance is seen and noticed, which is quite the opposite of theater; Sir Tony would tell us, ‘The deaf lady at the back row will not hear you. You always play for her.’ You play for bigness including your movements.”

So, what’s his creative process like?

“For me, you have to know the character first,” answers RS. “First and foremost, if you don’t know your character first, you’re up for a bad performance. If you don’t know your character, you make a character like where he is from, what kind of person he is, what he does in life and how he reacts to situations. It’s all about shift (shifting mediums). What’s good about the creative process is when you’ve completely built your character, kahit gulo guluhin ka nila sa stage, alam mo na ikaw yung (character). (Even if they distract you on stage, you know your character well).”

RS, as an artist, is always ready for the next acting assignment that comes his way.

(The Country Wife/ Ang Misis Kong Promdi runs until Dec. 7 at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, University of the Philippines Diliman. For details, call 926-1349, 433-7840, 981-8500 loc. 2449 or e-mail at [email protected].)