No matter how complicated and troublesome our attempt to fully understand Ronald Laing, I’m sure some, if not most, can relate to the knotted relationship of the couple alluded to in the verse. Because of our unsaid expectations and idealization of people, there comes a point in our lives when we feel the strings of our relationships with others have become entangled.
This was the theme of the minor thesis directorial play entitled Kataksilan directed by my former Xavier student, Charles Yee (CY). The play was translated from Harold Pinter’s Betrayal and was supervised by no less than Dr. Ricardo Abad of Tanghalang Ateneo.
It is hard to believe that it was only five years ago when CY approached me at the start of the quarter to try to get in the Advanced Filipino program. What CY did was unheard of. At Xavier School, Filipino is the most derided subject. To be incompetent in the language is not the worst thing that could happen to a young Chinoy.
Unlike most of his classmates, CY did not hate Filipino, but he admits having a truly difficult time reading selections written using very deep Filipino words. I still remember the first play I assigned to his section and how he buzzed me over YM just to complain good- naturedly about his difficulty in understanding the script and the plot of the story. A few encouraging words were all that were needed to convince him to re-read parts of the script. The following morning, CY played his role like a budding thespian. He was a natural comedian — loud, bubbly, and energetic. After two more quarters, CY turned in his own creative short story about the misfortunes of a couple aspiring to win in the lottery. In the short span of time, CY was already experimenting with Filipino and trying to elevate its use to the level of art.
This was precisely the reason why I did not pass up on the opportunity to watch his directorial play. His work is very timely considering predictable movies like No Other Woman and melodramatic TV shows like Glamarosa or Legacy are the talk of the town these days. CY, of course, reminds his audience that these themes are not meant just to overextend character stereotypes or relish dramatic one-liners. As a work of art, Kataksilan makes its audience reflect about the sincerity of our relationships with one another. Like an Indie movie, the feel while watching the play was heavy and profound and the narrative style was deliberately confusing to mirror the deceitful roles the characters play. What is essentially just a simple love affair between a woman and her husband’s best friend produces layers of insight because of how the play was told in reverse. One of the twists of the story was how the husband told his best friend that he has known for years about his friend’s affair with his wife. What bothered the guy playing the third wheel in the relationship was how his best friend had never expressed anger all those years and how he acted as if everything was business as usual. CY decided to make the narration of his play as twisted as the quality of the relationships of his characters.
If only the Filipino masses could realize that reading or watching these stories should make us question the genuineness of our own relationships and lead us to realize that ultimately, we deceive ourselves more than other people with the lies that we live.
It was truly a proud moment for me to see CY come out of his self-doubting shell and present to an audience his talent as an actor and now, a director. What made me happy was that after spending four years battling an anti-Filipino mentality at Xavier School, here I was now watching how a Xaverian is not just using Filipino for communicative purposes but elevating it into the realm of literature and art. Of all the students I handled in my eight-year career as a teacher, it was only CY who took to heart the beauty of the Filipino language.
Thank you, CY, for proving that the Chinoy can showcase what it truly means to be a real Filipino.