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Monday, November 19, 2007

Dogeaters Play

I thought it would be better if I read the book first before watching the play but unfortunately, the book wasn’t available months prior the show. Then again, isn’t it that everything we watch (from plays to movies) is all based on a written piece (a book or plainly manuscript)? Hence, I decided to watch the play even without reading the book. But I should’ve read it first, actually.

I’ve just started reading “Dogeaters” (I’m on the 100th –something page) but I’ve already noticed some of its differences from the stage adaptation. Of course, any adaptation cannot be completely the same with the original source.

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I’m not sure if the heavy issues in the book have actually been communicated in the play. Maybe they were but they weren’t established that much; pretty similar with the lack of establishment of the characters. I guess there’s an element of ‘pagkabitin’.

It is also possible that the play was too challenging to follow that I simply didn’t get to go along with the flow well. For instance, it’s quite hard to find a certain synchronization of the characters and the scenes in the play.

Would it work better if it had a narrator? But it had narrators (Nestor and Barbara).

But it’s still worth watching because of the actors. Not to mention, the humor of the play worked for most of the viewers. Who wouldn’t get to laugh at Jon Santos’s adlibs and comic acts?

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I wonder how they did this play in America. How?

Dogeaters runs from November 16 - December 2, 2007 at the RCBC Theater. Interesting reviews about the play here.

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