Back from London where she has been running an acting class for almost a decade now, Monique Wilson has just embarked on a secret week-long trip to Palestine and survived it.
It was a journey so risky that I doubt if actors of a lesser stuff would dare take. Call Monique Ms. Derring-do for being an exception. But Monique did it for a good reason: Instead of, as her colleagues usually do, mounting a concert to celebrate her 30th anniversary as theater actress, Monique (sounds like “unique,” doesn’t it?) is presenting the one-woman My Name is Rachel Corrie on Sept. 3 and 4 at the Music Museum, directed by Rito Asilo.
“I wanted to see for myself where the whole story happened,” Monique told Funfare in an exclusive interview.
My Name is Rachel Corrie is about 23-year-old American activist Rachel Corrie who went to Palestine where, while protecting a Palestinian home from being destroyed by the Israeli Army, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer. It happened in 2003. Like Anne Frank, Corrie left a diary which her parents gave to The Guardian newspaper in London. Theater actor Alan Rickman (who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movie) was so moved by it that he decided to create a play so that people would be inspired by her story. Rickman was intrigued: What possessed the girl to leave an affluent life in the US and go to the Middle East to help a poor Palestinian family?
First staged in London in 2005, the play won all the awards and then it went on a tour around Europe but not in the US where it became so controversial that it was banned in New York because the theater group that was supposed to stage it was backed by the Jewish community. The Philippines is the first Asian country where it will be staged. Monique said she will bring the play to London before honoring an invitation from Malaysia to stage it there.
“The play doesn’t tell you what side to take,” explained Monique. “It just shows you the real heart of the girl who saw everything that was being done to the Palestinians kasi nasa occupied territory sila, eh. For the last two years, I’ve been conducting master’s acting courses in London and all my students, around 33, are international students who are all experienced actors. One of them, Bayan Shbib, is a full-scholar Palestinian actress who told me about what life was back home. I became very curious, of course.”
That, in a way, was how Monique got interested in the play.
Some people are asking Monique why she’s staging that play here (and bringing it to London later on and, with a pending invitation, to Malaysia).
“They’re saying, ‘You know naman that the Palestinians deserve what they get.’ They don’t understand the historical context; they don’t understand what’s going on, they just take the news as they hear it. To me, it’s very important that I go to Palestine, alone. The people there thought that I was there on a pilgrimage. I agreed with the suggestion of Bayan Shbib that I go there to see for myself what’s really happening. I stayed in East Jerusalem but I went to the West Bank; I really went around, I wanted to talk to the people. I found out that everybody there knew Rachel Corrie’s story because it was played up in the media. She’s looked up to as a heroine. Everyone sympathizes with her. A school in the West Bank was even named after her.”
A unique way to celebrate a milestone, indeed!
“As I said, I didn’t want to mount a concert. My heart is aching to do something else.”
Monique purposely came home for it. Two weeks later, she’s going back to London which is now her second home for nine years. She keeps coming back and forth, though.
When she told her mom, Terry Wilson (bedridden for almost a decade after a heart attack that affected her brain), Terry shed quiet tears.
“She couldn’t talk but I’m sure she understands,” said Monique who always had her mom as chaperone anywhere Monique went. Monique’s father, Johnny Wilson, died a few years ago.
Now 40, Monique started when she was 10, making her debut in Annie along with Lea Salonga with whom Monique would alternate for the role of Kim in the West End presentation of the megahit musical Miss Saigon.
“I have done more than 200 plays in 30 years.”
Her top three favorites are:
• The Vagina Monologues. “My Name is Rachel Corrie is a bit like The Vagina Monologues with which I was so passionate that hindi na ako halos makatulog while we were staging it. It’s the kind of play that really consumes you and changes people’s lives. Vagina Monologues has been a 10-year journey for us. Two years ago, I did a production of it in New Orleans with Jane Fonda.”
• The Diary of Anne Frank. “I was 16 when I did for Repertory Philippines. It was the first time I realized my responsibility as an actress — you know, totoong buhay ang ginagampanan ko. I had to tell her story truthfully and responsibly.”
• Miss Saigon. “It was a turning point for me, not just for my career but for the fact that I realized that so many people were watching me. That’s when I realized that I was a Filipino actor. You know, you do plays in your own country and you don’t realize that you are a Filipino artist. It’s different when you’re doing it abroad (in London’s West End).”
It was Jonathan Pryce, who initiated the role of The Engineer in Miss Saigon, who encouraged Monique to take up further studies in acting.
“He said, ‘Monique, it’s not enough that you have this natural talent. If you want to be a very serious actress, if you want to make acting a career, you go to an acting school.’ Three years after I left Miss Saigon, I went to the London Academy of Dramatic Arts.”
At 40, Monique’s theater life is starting all over again.
Why Chokoleit fell from Nevada stage
It happened to Pilita Corrales before when she fell from the stage during a concert in Sacramento, California. Luckily, Pilita didn’t suffer more serious injuries than a sprained back.
Two nights ago, comedian Chokoleit fell from the stage during a concert in Nevada.
According to my friend Bradford Adkins who was there, Chokoleit invited a guy from the audience and did a funny “love scene” with him. They rolled and rolled until they both got carried away and fell from a height of more than six feet. The guy sustained minor injuries while Chokoleit got a huge lump on his head but it didn’t stop him from going on with the show, much to the delight of the audience who thought that the accident was part of the act.
Maricar Reyes, who (together with Coco Martin) was on the show, advised Chokoleit to consult a doctor if he developed a fever. “It might be a symptom of a brain injury,” Maricar, who is a doctor, told Chokoleit.
Fortunately, Chokoleit showed no such symptoms. The group should be back home anytime now.
What’s up?
• A Funfare DPA reported that basketball-star-turned-TV-host Alex Compton (photo) married his model-girlfriend Michelle Astudillo yesterday. The newlyweds belong to the Victory Christian Fellowship.
•Birthday greetings to Clarita “Naty” Montecillo (photo) who’s turning 81 today. She’s a guidance counsellor at the Tayabas Western Academy in Candelaria, Quezon. She’s celebrating her birthday with a ballroom party on Saturday, Aug. 21, at the QTC Hotel in Candelaria.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)