I
would imagine that most theater companies would’ve preferred to open with a
bang to announce itself to the world. But the newly formed Red Turnip Theater company chose a different route and opted for more intimacy with their initial
offering, Closer, which had its run
at Whitespace. Written by Patrick Marber, Closer had its premiere at the Royal National Theatre’s Cottesloe
Theatre in London back in 1997. It
was awarded as the Best New Play at the 1997 Laurence Olivier Awards.
Most
people, including me, are more familiar with Closer through the 2004 film adaptation starring Julia Roberts,
Clive Owen, Jude Law and Natalie Portman. Having seen the film before helped me
a lot in understanding and appreciating this play. It didn’t pose any
difficulty for me establishing who’s who: Cris Villonco as the stripper Alice,
Marc Abaya as the obituary writer Dan, Angel Aquino as Anna the photographer,
and Bart Guingona as Larry the doctor. This was Angel Aquino and Marc Abaya’s
first foray into theater while Cris Villonco portrays probably her most daring
role to date.
Cris,
appearing more svelte and spunky with her pixie haircut, embodied the carefree
nature of Alice . Angel’s Anna felt
too reserved and tamed at the start but this was just the façade that would
later be shattered when she spurted lines that would make grandmothers faint in shock.
Marc shed his rock star image (he is the frontman of the band Kjwan) with Dan, a fumbling writer. And Bart was the
same old reliable Bart whom I last saw in Next Fall. The characters were
complex, conflicted and flawed that it was hard to envision a happy ending for
any of them.
The
play, which was directed by Ana Abad Santos, consisted mostly of vignettes with the four characters either pairing or
splitting up or even exchange partners. The scenes dealt with the vital turning
points in their lives, with time advances not clearly stated which left a huge
chunk of the story out. The audience had to pay close attention and listen
carefully in order to fill in the gaps. And with the arena type staging, I felt
that I was a voyeur snooping into the lives of these four people, even during
their intimate moments. It’s
been said that this play is a modern and dark take on the opera Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart. And this production gave a nod to this by playing the overture from the
opera during one of the funniest scenes in the play when Larry and Dan (posing
as Anna) were having a not so wholesome chat over the internet.
The
material might be too hard for some to understand especially those who expected
to have a relaxing time with the cast and crew doing all the work. But Closer is not one of those plays. Even
though I’ve seen the film and already knew beforehand what would happen, the
play still posed as a challenge for me to listen actively to the lines. I did
have a difficult time figuring out some of the words because of too much reverb
in the venue.
Rem Zamora, Jenny Jamora, Bart Guingona, Angel Aquino, Cris Villonco, Marc Abaya, Ana Abad Santos, and Topper Fabregas |
I am
extremely pleased that Red Turnip Theater, founded by Jenny Jamora,
Topper Fabregas, Cris Villonco, Rem Zamora and Ana Abad Santos, really went for
a more cerebral production instead of bombarding the audience with yet another eye
candy which is already being served by other companies. The company’s next
production would be the intriguingly titled Cock by Mike Bartlett to be staged
in February 2014.
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