Bite-size theater from Oz

When you hear the words “short and sweet,” you often associate the phrase with speeches and/or ceremonies. For the likes of Zsa Zsa Gabor and Elizabeth Taylor, it might have even served as how they would describe marriage. But it’s not often used to describe theater; so the upcoming Short+Sweet Manila 2014 is quite a unique proposition — something not to be missed!

Mark Cleary, Short+Sweet’s artistic and executive director, was in town recently to explain this Australian theater initiative, and express how excited he is to see the concept adapted for Manila — besides numerous Australian cities, there are S+S festivals held in Singapore, Auckland, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, cities in India, and Dubai, to name a few. The idea is to stage a number of original 10-minute plays each night, and it’s all-original material, tapping local talents. So the playwrights, the directors, the set designers, and actors are all homegrown Filipinos! With one set of plays (14) being performed from Feb. 26 to March 2, 7 p.m., and the second set (another 14) from March 4 to 8, and a culminating Awards Night on the March 9, we can expect concise, punchy, explosive theater.

Given the strict 10-minute time limit, I would venture to guess the writers will not go for “slow burn,” or steady evolution; but realize they have to get the audience into a vise grip, set off the fireworks, and hold them tight for the duration of their 10 minutes. To be held at the University of the Philippines’ Wilfredo Guerrero Theater, in partnership with UP’s College of Arts & Letters, the festival will be staged in Manila by Vaishali Ray and Divya Rajan-Sriram. In this world of short attention spans, this may be a serendipitous way of absorbing the local theater scene, and witnessing the birth of a new breed of theater talent — from writers to actors.

Inquiries for the P300 tickets can be coursed through jycmendoza@gmail.com or ammbartolome@gmail.com. I know I’ll be there to see this maiden voyage of S+S Manila take flight! It’s too good a concept to miss out on.

Because we can

A lot of great fiction comes from exploring the possible and purely imagined, and stroking it with a veneer of reality that brings us, the reader, into the “conspiracy.” These are three works that highlight that quality, and make for rewarding hours by the reading light.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (available at National Book Store) After the success of her debut novel, The Secret History, Donna Tartt is back with a sprawling tale that examines identity, conscience, art, grief and ambition in equal measures. The novel starts off with one Theo Decker, a 13-year-old living in Manhattan with his flighty, yet irrepressible single mom. During a terrorist attack at a museum, Theo tragically loses his mother but in the midst of the rubble, makes contact with Welty, during the old man’s final moments. This leads to his meeting the wonderful Hobie, furniture restorer, and Welty’s partner. In a tone reminiscent of Ripley, we follow Theo’s star-crossed life, where women, art and vice percolate to our reading delight.

Baba Yaga by Toby Barlow (available at Amazon.com) Author of Sharp Teeth, an amazing story written in verse about ferocious supernatural creatures, Barlow is back with a novel set in 1950s Paris that takes on the Cold War, witchcraft and love in strange places and forms. The story entertains in a manner that at times, threatens to be careening off the rails, but somehow always rights itself at the last moment. There are four main characters, Zoya the young witch, Elga her cantankerous mentor, William, an American who inadvertently gets mixed up in espionage, and Inspector Vidot, who is turned into a flea! It’s like reading Angela Carter, where fantasy and the ordinary are weaved together to conjure a wonderful reading spell. Crazy, but so readable.

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn (available at Fully Booked) Noted biographer and historian William Kuhn takes a new journey into fiction but with a heady utilization of what he knows so well — living history. What Kuhn imagines is a Queen Elizabeth feeling some frustration over her day-to-day life, and how changes are being made to the institution of royalty in this day and age. Humanizing the Queen in a manner that’s rarely been done, Kuhn turns the story into a variation of Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey, throwing in elements of the clash between tradition and modernity, and between the young and the old. The equerry, her lady in waiting, her dresser, Princess Margaret; these are just some the vividly imagined characters that populate this very poignant, humor-filled tale.