“My Friend Has Come,” which opened only Thursday and has its closing performance today, 8 p.m., at Dito: Bahay ng Sining, is similar in theme, but has a tighter focus and an additional layer of complexity.
Director Ricky Abad shows a keen eye for symbolism in this play, as little things like a bottle of tea and a Persimmon tree acquire multiple meanings, not all apparent at first glance. I was particularly pleased with the minimalist aesthetic, something very true to the Japanese origins of the play.
Tight, nuanced
Spoilers ahead.
The true strength of the play is its tight, focused central relationship. The play begins with our protagonist writhing and all but insane on the floor, raving about ants and dust. When his friend arrives on a bicycle, the play somehow manages to communicate that these two should be glad to see each other—yet their attempts to communicate and establish friendly gestures and rituals all backfire.
What follows is one of the most intensely physical performances I have ever seen on the stage. The play is unafraid to use and then subvert sexual comedy, to tell stories through body language, and to imply deeper levels of tragedy and connection beyond the surface meaning of a young man tormented by a friend’s suicide.
It takes a nuanced play to be open to multiple interpretations, but “My Friend Has Come” manages it with one setting and two characters. Was there an undercurrent of homosexual attraction between the protagonists? Was the friend’s suicide driven by mental illness?
The beauty is that the audience gets to decide. “My Friend Has Come” is not pushy about what you take away from it. It’s cool. It’s Zen.
And yet it’s not afraid to shock. The Kendo matches are shockingly violent yet somehow vent malice rather than building it. The flashback sex scene will have the audience squirming uncomfortably, but the real shock comes at an unexpected moment, casting a shadow on the characters’ friendship.
End of spoilers.
Respectful portrayal
“My Friend Has Come” accomplishes something only the best stories do: it manages to make you sympathize with characters who are objectively flawed. It is a great feat to take a person you would not happily share a room with in real life and make you weep for him all the same.
Even at the end, the characters manage to grow without necessarily finding peace or replacing their very real flaws with sunshine and rainbows. This is the beginning of a recovery, not the end, and this to me is a very respectful portrayal of grief. You don’t recover from crushing loss with an epiphany and a happy song. That’s not how real people work. The play gets this.
Young actors Sky Abundo and Miguel Almendras play their obviously taxing roles with fearlessness and dedication. Special credit should also be given to the live, authentic Japanese string music played throughout the play.
I was happier with “My Friend Has Come” than I was with other productions with 10 times the budget and publicity. It refuses to be formulaic, it challenges the audience, it makes you weep in a way that feels like real loss, and the ending is uncertain in a way that feels like real certainty. All with a minimalist aesthetic.
If you’re interested in a thinker’s play, in a story with nuanced symbolism, tight storytelling and raw emotion, do yourself a favor and drop by Dito this weekend. I cannot promise that you will leave happy. I do promise that you will have grown a little, where it counts.
“My Friend Has Come” has its closing performance today, 8 p.m., at Dito: Bahay ng Sining on J. Molina Street in Concepcion Uno, Marikina City. Call Allec at 0905-2672778 for tickets and other details.