Thorns and brambles in the kingdom

The set and costumes of PETA Theater's recent production of Shakespeare's "Haring Lear" was designed by Gino Gonzales, whose mentor was National Artist for Theater Design Salvador "Badong" Bernal, who passed away late last year. A true disciple of Badong, one of Gino's principles when designing for local theater is to use indigenous, inexpensive and easily-available materials; otherwise, theater in the country would languish, becoming prohibitively expensive. Like Badong, this self-imposed limitation unleashes Gino's creativity, and his simple yet powerful set is as sad, dark and nightmarish as the tale's betrayals and insanities.