Royally beaten

MANILA, Philippines - I spent last Sunday getting hit in the head with a samurai sword. How was your weekend?

I happen to be one of the rare audience casualties of Battalia Royale, a live-action game performance by Sipat Lawin based on the Koushun Takami novel Battle Royale. The story follows the misadventures of students from a fictional high school that embarks on a class trip only to be pushed into a kill-or-be-killed game.

The audience gets to run around and follow the characters as they try to slice each other up until one winner emerges. It’s gritty, violent, bleak, and in the words of my own mother, “a really stupid way to spend 450 pesos.”

Getting adults to ride this bloody band wagon can be hard to do, though judging by the 200-plus crowd at Museo Pambata — Battalia’s ironic venue of choice — last weekend, kids really seem to dig it. The museum entrance was packed an hour before the show. People were dressed in ready-to-run fashion. I personally wore black, which to me turned out to be a bad idea as you couldn’t really tell that I was splattered with blood.

Oh, yeah. When I say Battalia is bloody, it’s bloody. Because the show is set up in a way that no seats can be accommodated, you have to literally run and fight for your seat to get a good view of the show. The actors supposedly can’t see you so they can die and spill blood on your person if you’re lucky enough to be close by.

In fact, this desire to get bloodied up is actually what got me into the samurai sword conundrum. Running from one spot to another, I wrangled for a spot in front of a seated couple. The guy tapped me with a tentative “excuse me,” which on another occasion might’ve shamed me into moving at the back, but I just smiled and waited for the next story arc to begin. It’s Battalia, after all. If you aren’t there to fight, you aren’t there at all. (Or maybe that’s just me.)

I’m not so sure if it was karma or sheer dumb luck, but in that particular scene, the samurai sword flew out of the blonde moreno actor’s hands and hit me right on the face in full view of everyone else. As fake as the sword was, it was still pretty damn heavy. Still, the pain was only second to the embarrassment of looking like a dork in front of one’s peers.

I now sport a bump on my right temple that throbs whenever I blink and a permanent paranoia towards all flying objects within my periphery. Thanks, Battalia.

Believe it or not, despite that injury I had a lot of fun. Radioactive Sago Project and Tarsius provided the score, added a delicious layer of sophistication to the juvenile production. Bodji Pascua of Epol Apol fame was fabulously frightening as the game master. While some I may have found some of the acting a little dry, I thought Mark Ghosn and Ross Pesigan delivered riveting performances as Timothy and Victor.

A total of six people met their bloody end in front of me during Battalia, with one of them literally falling on my lap. Because the actors seriously did not move after they died, the guards had to pry me off just so I could stand up (you know who you are, Basti Kiriyama). It was a mortality count that I found myself being all too proud of.

But it was this same thought that chilled me about this show, and perhaps why a lot of its spectators are left disturbed. I don’t want to spoil it for Battalia virgins, but the game includes the audience in more ways than just voyeuristic gratification.

In revealing the demons of these supposedly naïve teenagers, we’re able to discover where our moral compasses lead to. Where do we draw the line in a bloodbath, and more importantly, on which side will we stand? It’s the classic question of fight or flight, and Battalia presents it in such a messed-up, beautiful fashion, it makes choosing so hard to do.

To anyone in need of some soul searching or a bloody good time, worry not. Battalia Royale will have its fourth run in November at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Just remember to steer clear of flying samurai swords because those things hurt. A lot.