Arts and Culture

'It's complicated': Play dissects Filipino myth characters' love life

February 21, 2018 | 6:20pm

'It's complicated': Play dissects Filipino myth characters' love life

Tanghalang Pilipino's "Nang Dalawin ng Pag-ibig si Juan Tamad." Released

MANILA, Philippines — For the Love Month, Tanghalang Pilipino, Cultural Center of the Philippines' resident theater company, explores the different facets of love in its season-ender production "Nang Dalawin ng Pag-ibig si Juan Tamad."

Directed by Jonathan Tadioan, the theater production is based on National Artist Nick Joaquin's "How Love Came to Juan Tamad" from his book "Pop Stories for Groovy Kids."

The story follows the love triangle among Maria Makiling, the goddess of love, Monte Banahaw, the god of war, and Juan Tamad, the iconic lazy boy. The play is teeming with complex characters, with no one being purely a hero or a villain.

Whether you are single or enjoying your couple-hood, you might relate as this production explores the complexities of loving someone — from choosing who (or what) to love, to making choices and decisions on relationships, standing by what we believe in, and giving up and giving in to love.

To celebrate "Feb-Ibig," TP's "Nang Dalawin ng Pag-ibig si Juan Tamad" throws these "hugot" and love questions:

1. How do you love?

Are you Monte Banahaw who puts so much effort to subdue a woman, only to find out later on that he might be actually in love with her?

Or do you love like Maria Makiling, who fawns and gives everything to the person she loves?

Perhaps, are you like Juan Tamad, who is not interested in love and would rather spend time with his bed than a woman who adores him?

2. What kind of love do you have?

Is it forbidden love, like a goddess falling in love with a mortal? A narcissistic kind of love? Or a love that breaks boundaries?

As a line from the play goes: "Wala na yatang mas nakakapagod pa sa pag-ibig. Biruin mo, bawat sandali, iniisip mo siya, iniisip ka niya. Hindi mapakali, hindi makatulog, hindi makakain, laging aligaga. Laging tulala, parang laging sinisilaban ang puwit ng mangingibig."

3. Does gayuma, just like the one created by Bai who is the water fairy of Laguna de Bay and an absent-minded alchemist, really work?

4. Why is Maria Makiling forever nursing a broken heart?

How do you mend a broken heart and recover from love sickness? And if it does work, what happens if you use it and, upon opening your lover's eyes, he or she falls in love with the ugliest, stupidest, laziest and most worthless person - are you ready to face the consequences?

5. If you are "pa-cool" about love like Juan Tamad, will you also become a pop idol just like the iconic lazy folktale character?

6. But do you even know who Juan Tamad, Maria Makiling and Monte Banahaw are?

These fictitious Filipino characters are the stars of "Nang Dalawin ng Pag-ibig si Juan Tamad," a play that runs until March 11 at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater), with evening performances at 8 p.m., and matinees at 3 p.m.