MANILA, Philippines - It’s a dark, stormy night. A theater director, alone and exhausted after a day of unsuccessful auditions for a risqué play, is descended upon by one last aspirant. The actress is everything he fears and everything he desires in a performer. She is funny, unpolished, and surprisingly adept. The play he is staging is an adaptation of the 19th-century erotic novella Venus in Furs, by Leopold Von Sacher Masoch, after whom “masochism” was named. She reads the script for him and the lines begin to blur between the play and reality, between director and actor, between the holders of power. A tantalizing question arises: Is she just an actress or is there more to her than meets the eye?
Venus in Fur by David Ives has won a slew of awards on Broadway and has been adapted for the screen by Roman Polanski. It is a funny tale of the battle of the sexes that leaves an audience in wonderment and awe. Its Philippine premiere, directed by Bart Guingona fresh from his recent triumphs Red and Full Gallop, will star David Bianco (The Boston: The Kitchen Musical, Boeing Boeing, Next Fall) opposite real-life partner Jennifer Blair Bianco (Boeing Boeing, Grease).
Although Guingona is a veteran of Philippine Theater, the Biancos are rising stars who are currently appearing on TV’s The Boston: The Kitchen Musical and are slated to film several independent projects in the coming months. Both of them take on Venus in Fur armed with impressive credentials. David, a native of Ypsilanti, Michigan holds a BFA in musical theater and an MFA in acting and has appeared in over 40 productions and worked in countries as Canada, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Japan. Jen, on the other hand, is a singer of no mean talent. A Filipino-American, she holds a BA Theater degree and has appeared in countless regional shows in the US as well as international independent films and television.
Performance dates of Venus in Fur are July 25 and 26 at 8 p.m. and 27 at 4 p.m. at the CCP Tanghalang Huseng Batute. Tickets available at Ticketworld (891-9999) and the CCP Box Office (832-3704). For information, visit Facebook.com/The Necessary Theatre or on Twitter @aaitnt.