ANG LARO by Fly Quintos language of the upwardly mobile, the language of the

(Director/Playwright) An adaptation of Arthur

very sophisticated.
Schnitzlers La Ronde for ten male actors. As a director, it was a process of filling in
the language and the text with gestures, nuances,
PLAYWRIGHTS NOTE
Remembering a Renegade Play subtexts. It was also a test of adapting. So there was
Right after the success of Fluid in 2004, Jun
no production budget? Use a series of old beds as
Pablo and Miguel Castro of Theater Now!
sets. Since the play was contemporary, costumes
approached me with two scenes that Miguel wrote.
were not a problem. The real battle was with the
These scenes were the beginning of an adaptation of
material and the treatment. The play was not so much
Shnitzlers La Ronde, a play I have always loved.
risqu as it was provocative. In blocking the sex
They wanted me to refine the two scene sketches and
scenes, I did not go for graphic realism but for a
finish the rest of the script based on characters that
distilled, evocative picture of the men toying, and
Miguel had outlines. Miguel wanted a part in the
then discarding each other. As Peter Serrano recounts,
show, so he turned over the writing to me.
straight actors were tense about some of the
La Ronde always fascinated me because of
blocking especially the climactic orgy scene, which
its modern structure. The premise, ten characters in a
set to changing from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It
vicious cycle of sexual predation, lends itself well to
took some time for the entire cast to really get into it,
all sorts of adaptations, most notably The Blue
the blocking without the feeling that they were being
Room. Theater Now! wanted the material adapted
taken advantage of.
for Manilas gay culture. It was too irresistible a
What did I tell them to work on in the orgy
project. There was no money. There was limited time.
scene was an absence of love and genuine affection.
But there were plenty of actors who seemed
At the end of the scene, they stood up wearily from
interested, though slightly intimidated, by the
the bed to confront the audience. The last lines, tara,
material.
tara na were said without sort of emotion. They
Of all the plays in this anthology, Laro is
were dead souls going through the motion of a pick-
the one without annotation ns. My working script was
up. I think when I told them that image and intention,
so full of notes and snatches of dialogue that I can no
the cast really got it. I will always be thankful to
longer reconstruct where the original text ended and
Marcus, Andoy, Peter, Julienne, Jom, Miguel, Perry,
where the rewrites began. I was working outside of
Richard, Neil and Rolly for their trust, as well as to
my usual Dulaang UP environment and Theater Now!
Jun Pablo for his daring.
was really scraping by so that the process of creation
Our Bulwagang Gantimpala weekend was
and script finalization was not fully documented. My
near empty. When we moved to Batute, were jam
memories, as well as those of the actors, must serves
packed. I guess word of mouth had gotten around
as annotations.
because we were turning people away at the gate. I
I do remember this: As a playwright, it was a
remember that we were running at the same time as
chance to write gay characters that used different
highly successful male revue, Penis Talk 2. One
social languages the language of the streets and the
theater goer came up to me at closing night and said,
gay bars, the language of the chat rooms, the
This is so much more thought provoking! The
characters are so real! Who did you base these men
on?
No one in particular was, and still is the
answer. Like the original material, Laro moves from
the streets in a dizzying, upward spiral to the
penthouse of the Pilantropo. Perhaps, my own life
journey has taken through similar routes.
We had plans for a second run but shortly
after, Jun Pablo was diagnosed with cancer. He
survived it but no plans for a Laro repeat are
forthcoming. Nevertheless, Laro remains my dark
renegade of a dream play.
The Play was first produced by Theater
Now!, the now defunct experimental arm of
Bulwagang Gantimpala in November 2004. There
were six performances at the Gantimpala venue in
Luneta and additional six performances at the
Bulwagang Batute of the CCP.
NOTES FROM THE ARTISTIC STAFF
Alex Cortez, Director (UP Run)
It was summer of 2004 when we did Fluid. I
wanted to try more experimental, adventurous
staging. Floy wanted it as honest as straightforward
as possible. I eventually agreed. The play was so
uncomplicated but its sense of honesty could not be
ignored. Fluid dealt with the ordinary and
extraordinary in a very comic but sensitive style.
Characters flowed naturally and the wit and
humor of the material bore semblance to the lives of
artists who tried to please others more than
themselves. Fluids humor was affecting. Their
essence reflects its strength: Floys view of
relationships.
Tuxqs Rutaquio, Production Designer (UP Run)
Sometimes, I get my design concept from
the title of the play without, of course, being too
literal. Since the art world is space of the play, the
springboard became just that a gallery. As a part of
my research, I looked at architectural spaces for
inspiration.
One day, I was driving in one of those alleys
in Katipunan and saw a row of building structures
with facades that jutted out at angles. Using that idea,
I went through various sketches to achieve wall
panels moving forward and changing the perspective.
I wanted solid panels with the appearance of a wave.
The Faculty Center Studio was the best
choice for the play. Usually used as a laboratory for
theater students in UP, most of the earlier designs that
I did there were in the arena staging. Looking for
more dynamic ways of using that space, I was struck
with the rows of windows on one side of the theater
and thought that it was the perfect space to fill my
wall panels. The result was a panoramic space of
clean lines but with an optical illusion of the waves
of white wall panels to show the characters effect on
each other.
MGA TAUHAN
Ang Call Boy Ang Estudyante
Ang Ideal Ang Kalaguyo
Ang Manggagamit Ang Manunulat
Ang Modelo Ang Pilantropo
Ang Pulis Ang She-Male
PANAHON AT LUGAR
Kasalukuyan sa Maynila.
UNANG TAGPO
Ang Call Boy at ang Pulis.
(Madaling araw sa pampang sa ilalim ng Jones
Bridge. Malamlam ang ilaw sa entablado. Ilang
saglit pa, lilitaw ang liwanang ng ilaw mula sa iang
mobile patrol. Mula sa kung saan, magtatakbuhan
ang ilang lalaking nagmamadaling magsuot ng
damit, pantalon, ang ilan ay tatakbo nang hubad.
Mula kung saan, lilitaw ang isang Call Boy.
Patakbong tatawid ng entablado, makakasaubong
ang Pulis, babalik sa pinanggaligngan, at
mapapatalikod nang makita sa kabilang panig ang
mobile. Di makakaalis sa kinatatayuan ang Call Boy.
Nakatingingin lamamng ang Pulis. Pagkatapos
msilip, at masigurong wala na ang mobile, dali-
daling isusuot ng Call Boy ang kanyang damit at
pantalon. Akmang patakbong aalis.)
PULIS: Hoy ID mo?
CALL BOY: (Buong pagtataka.) Ha?
PULIS: Madaling araw na, gagalagala ka pa Ilang
taon ka na ha? ID mo nasaan sabi?!
CALL BOY: Bossing naman
PULIS: Anong bossing bossing? Parang gulat na
gulat ka pa a.
CALL BOY: Napadaan lang bossing
PULIS: Anong napadaan? Napadaan sa ano? Ganyan
ka ba mapadaan sa park? Hubad? (Maririnig
ang kaguluhan sa di kalayuan. Titingin sa
pinagmulan ng ingay.)
PULIS: Aba nga naman, at nakarating pala ang Tv
station na magko-cover ng raid ngayong
gabi ha
CALL BOY: Ha! Puta
PULIS: Uuyy sikat kayo ngayong gabi ha
Makikita na kayo sa TV ng mga nanay
niyo (Matatawa. Sisigawan ang mga
kasama.) Hoy!? Eto pang isa
CALL BOY: Boss hu-huwag naman good boy
naman ako bossing e.
PULIS: Good boy? (Matatawa.) Mukha nga
mukhang good boy na good boy ka sa mga
bading diyan sa suluk-sulok e O baka
naman isa ka sa mga bading na humahada
rito?
CALL BOY: Hindi boss kailangan lang kumita.
Pasensya na, Trabaho lang. (Ilang sandaling
magtatama ang kanilang mga mata, iiwas
kaagad ang Pulis.)
PULIS: Anong pase-pasensya binababoy nyo
itong park e.
CALL BOY: Hindi naman bossing. Kailangan lang
talagang kumita. (Magdadalawang isip ang
Pulis, sandaling titingnan ang Call Boy.)
PULIS: Sige, sige palalampasin ko na to. Pero
huwag ko nang Makikita ang mukha mo rito
ha.
CALL BOY: Okay boss (Magtatagpo ang tinging
ng dalawa, magtitinginan ng ilang sandal.
May mababasa sa tingin ng Pulis. Akmamng
aalis ang Pulis.) Boss lika (Titingin
ang Pulis, aakmang aalis.) Ayaw mo bang
sumama sa kin?
PULIS: Ako ba?
CALL BOY: Oo naman may ibang tao pa ba rito?
Mukha namang paalis na rin sila Lika
na malapit lang tinitirhan ko rito
PULIS: E tarantado ka palang
CALL BOY: Nagmamagandang loob lang naman
boss. Konting inom lang
PULIS: Sinusuhulan mo ako e
CALL BOY: Di naman bossing
PULIS: (Atubili.) Wala akong oras kailangan ko ng
bumalik sa presinto.