Equus by Repertory Philippines

If you haven’t seen or heard about the Equus of Repertory Philippines that has been playing at Onstage in Greenbelt 1, I think you’ve been missing a lot. And I mean, A LOT!




To give you a short background about this talked-about play, or should I say “THE PLAY OF THE YEAR”, Equus made its noise when Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) bravely took the Broadway challenge of playing Alan Strang, a 17-year-old boy who has been charged with the crime of blinding six horses by gouging out their eyes.


On this Repertory Philippines’ rendition of this world-renowned play by Peter Shaffer, Audie Gemora took care of the wheels of this wagon as he directed this play with his lead casts Marco Manalac as Alan Strang, Miguel Faustman as Dr. Martin Dysart and Pheona Baranda as Jill Mason.


Marco Manalac as Alan Strang

Miguel Faustman as Dr. Martin Dysart

Pheona Baranda as Jill Mason


More than the most awaited (to some) nude acting, I never thought that I’d be experiencing a psychological, spiritual and emotional rollercoaster ride with this play. I didn’t know much about the turnout of Radcliffe’s performance as Alan Strang but I’d say that Manalac’s portrayal was somehow convincing to some points that I, myself, felt how he tirelessly fought the anxiety, anger and happiness that his character was having.

Photos are courtesy of Raul Montesa and Repertory Philippines.

I would also like to give two thumbs up to Miguel Faustman who was very consistent and very believable from the moment the stage lights switched on.


The supporting role of Pheona Baranda, who also bravely showed her flawless body and prowess acting skill, made this whole play really exciting and riveting to watch.




Actually, I thought that Mr. Gemora intentionally chosen these actors who have native British tongues, but after the play, when I got a chance to talk to them, I was really wowed to hear them talking our native language - FILIPINO. The British accent that they have throughout the play was all part of the act and that really amazed me. Realizing that, darn, they acted it all out and made me believe that they are some sort of British decent. Haha! Really fantastic! Bravo!


As for the costumes, though, the main casts where normal clothes, the costumes of the horses and how wall they brought it was notable. Acting while wearing those horseshoes was really impossible to do but they pulled it off very well.


And as for the technical stuff of this play, though the audio tend to malfunction at one point, the lighting was superbly done! My favourite scene was actually when Alan Strang was having this fight with the horses, the red and orange lights matched with those smokes gave me the feeling of anger that the character was having that time. And I knew that all of us, the audience, felt it with the help of those colors. I was really impressed by that.


Photos are courtesy of Raul Montesa and Repertory Philippines.

Alternating Marco Manalac is Red Concpecion, and joined onstage by theatre veterans Tami Monsod as Dora Strang, Jaime del Mundo as Frank Strang, Roselyn Perez as Hesther Salomon and Dido dela Paz as Harry Dalton


The play is strictly for adults only.




EQUUS playdates are July 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24 at 8PM, and July 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 at 3:30PM. Venue is Onstage, 2/F Greenbelt One, Paseo de Roxas cor. Legazpi Sts., Makati City. For ticket inquiries, call (632) 887-0710 or log on to http://repertory.ph.





2 comments

Nica said...

Hopefully I can catch this play!

Anonymous said...

thanks alex!