Bicolano-adapted epic comes alive on theater stage

We were invited to watch Ibalong The Musical, Tanghalang Pilipino’s last play of its 26th season over the weekend. From the moment the lights went down at CCP’s Little Theater, we knew that we were in for an uncommon treat. Ominous music plays as a giant she-serpent’s 14-foot tail slithers back and forth along the bottom of the stage curtain of native grass. The first number: A mystical narration in song provides the audience an inkling into the Bikolano fable.

While the original Ibalong epic celebrates the conquest of what is now Bicol, playwright Rody Vera has decided to take the audience on a different journey, integrating a call for environmental responsibility. Starting point was the only available 60 stanzas from the epic poem.  Happily these stanzas gave life to the love story between a human Hanyong (Myke Salomon) and the serpent Oryol (Jenine Desiderio).

We see Ibalon through the eyes of the scheming serpent Oryol and Ibalon’s indigenous inhabitants, colorful and mystical, with one costume more brilliant than the last. We are captivated when Oryal’s tail is brought to life, how creepily animated shadows languidly drift across the stage, and how Opon (Red Nuestro), the giant boar’s human side has been theatrically concealed behind a cleverly conceived cranium.

All these halimaws (monsters) and aswangs (vampires) and creatures of the water, land and sky, people the various legends and folklore of our 7,000-plus islands. Yet they are also different, as the language of each island is unlike the rest.

The story of Ibalong opens in a pristine land inhabited by supernatural beings — the serpent Oryol and her father Asuwang (Jonathan Tadioan), deity of the Underworld, and Gugurang (May Bayot), goddess of the Upper World who were in constant conflict with one another. They survive in this status until a human arrives to claim their land. After a thousand years, Ibalong’s supernatural inhabitants once again are able to reclaim their land.

A new warrior king named Handyong arrives, attracted to the land’s natural beauty. He is more clever, more powerful than his predecessor and succeeds in subjugating Ibalong’s beasts and killing its colorful creatures. Handyong meets Oryol and, after a relentless pursuit, has her by the throat. Here, she agrees to cut off her tail and marry her captor to save herself. They fall in love and this seals the fate of Ibalon’s fantastic beings as they begin to fade away while Handyong’s dominion grows, destroying Ibalon’s original rhythmic eco-system, with greed becoming his sole reason for living. Meantime, Oryol gives birth to their son Makusog (Cheeno Macaraig) to whom Handyong appears devoted.

 As Handyong makes plans for Makusog’s takeover asking of Ibalong, Oryol’s father Asuwang warns his daughter on his deathbed about this greedy human who is determined to completely destroy Ibalong. The play’s final act shows Handyong’s song Makusog struck by lightning. Over his son’s lifeless body Handyong weeps, asking erstwhile enemy Gugurang how he can be revived. Only if you die, the goddess tells him. Without question, he kills himself, and Makusog is proclaimed leader of Ibalong, half- monster, half-human with a responsibility towards all. And so he reigns over the land now named Bicol, and soon he fathers Daragang Magayon or Mayon who will watch over their entire land.

Indeed, this fable hails from the province of Bicol and is a source of regional pride for Bicolanos. There is even an Ibalon Festival in Legazpi City every August celebrating the story, its heroes and creatures. Yet this amazing tale stands testament to the diverse fabric that weaves our nation’s culture. These are our myths, our superstitions, our heroes and battles. We are grateful for Tanghalang Pilipino for bringing to the stage, for us and for our future generations, a uniquely Filipino fable with a modern-day message to preserve the beauty of our islands.

Ibalong The Musical is playing at the CCP until March 3 at 8 p.m., Friday through Sunday and 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

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