Story time!

The Filipino sarsuwela is a dramatic form that is rooted in the 19th century Spanish sainete, a comic skit with music, and zarzuela, a play that alternates song and dance with dramatic prose. Its typical theme is romantic love and "Walang Sugat" (no wound or not wounded), the play that I mentioned last month, features the problematic love between Julia (Laura Cabochan) and Tenyong (Arman Ferrer), who have been friends since childhood.



The sarsuwela typically incorporates commentary on the social, political and economic issues current at the time of its writing or performance. When Tenyong's father is arrested by the Spanish army as a rebel and dies in jail after being tortured at the order of the friars, Tenyong decides to join the revolutionary army to avenge his death.



Julia's widowed mother does not approve of her daughter's relationship with Tenyong. She has higher hopes for Julia, wanting her to marry Miguel, a rich but stupid nephew of the parish priest. While Tenyong is away, the mother pressures Julia to accept Miguel's proposal of marriage.



The sarsuwela usually features more than one pair of lovers. The secondary pair is typically the earthier and more comic relationship, compared to the main couple's loftier and purer love. In "Walang Sugat," the lusty and comic foil is provided by Lucas (AJ Constantino), Tenyong's manservant, and Monica (Delphine Buencamino), Julia's maid.



Miguel's father (Mike Coroza), is a widower, and one scene shows him courting Julia's widowed mother (Sonia Roco), trying to convince her that they can still experience love and companionship in their old age.



When Julia receives a letter from Tenyong's general that her lover has died fighting, she finally says yes to marrying Miguel. On the day of the wedding, a heavily bandaged Tenyong is wheeled in on a cart. He is pronounced by a medic to be on the brink of death and the parish priest is called to hear his last confession. Tenyong announces his dying wish: to be married to Julia before he dies. Thinking that Julia will be widowed immediately and that her marriage to Miguel will still push through, Julia's mother and Miguel's father agree.



I think you can guess what happens after the wedding ceremony: Tenyong jumps up from the cart, walang sugat! And during the final dance, the director Ricky Abad makes one grand gesture that would not have been out of place during a performance more than one hundred years ago: the church's facade opens up into a sunburst containing the words of the Malolos Constitution, which established the First Philippine Republic.



The wonderfully quirky, cartoon-y set, which emphasizes the lighthearted and comic aspect of the sarsuwela rather than its political and social commentary, was designed by Philippine National Artist for Theater Design Salvador Bernal, faculty of the Ateneo de Manila University's Fine Arts Program.