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Friends and colleagues remember a towering actor who was also a ‘generous, gracious and very sincere friend’
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Friends and colleagues remember a towering actor who was also a ‘generous, gracious and very sincere friend’
‘So help me God,’ she says of this once-in-a-lifetime chance to play her hero forebear
New original plays, bigger audiences, a tighter community, more regional shows in the spotlight
For several weekends at the CCP’s Bulwagang Huseng Batute, mother and daughter Gina and Racquel Pareño alternated in the part of Linda Loman, the wife of Willy Loman, in “Pahimakas Ng Isang Ahente,” Tanghalang Pilipino’s production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” as translated into Filipino by National Artist for Theater and Literature Rolando Tinio.
The case of 29-year-old actor Jonathan Tadioan playing the role of 63-year-old Willy Loman in Tanghalang Pilipino’s production of “Pahimakas sa Isang Ahente”—Arthur Miller’s classic “Death of A Salesman” translated into Filipino by Rolando Tinio—can very well be the theater curiosity of the season.
Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Pahimakas sa Isang Ahente” has got to be one of the longest straight (meaning nonmusical) staged dramas in recent history. Clocking at nearly four hours, it’s a bittersweet tale of a once charismatic and perpetually optimistic man on the verge of losing his dreams, his soul and his family (in a manner of speaking).
“There is a shifting of emotions in this play; emotions not easy to internalize. There is an American element, but during rehearsals this becomes universal. May mga umiyak. The actors would sometimes cry during rehearsals because they were affected by the situation they were rehearsing, and relating it to their own stories.”
By his own reckoning, actor Fernando “Nanding” Josef—now artistic director of Tanghalang Pilipino—has spent 40 years in theater. This, he said, is instrumental in his getting the kind of unique education he would never have learned in the classroom.
His assuming the reins as Tanghalang Pilipino’s (TP) new president is a homecoming of sorts for José Luis “Jolly” Reyes Gomez. A businessman who oversees many companies as well as a scion of the family that owns Aristocrat Restaurant, the man says he has always loved the dramatic arts (he was present during TP’s founding 27 years ago) and would like to see its resurgence, especially in the Philippines.
One fine day, Nanding Josef, the articulate artistic director of Tanghalang Pilipino (TP), resident drama group of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, called up to announce that TP’s 25th anniversary was fast approaching. And would I like to write a book about the organization and its accomplishments?
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