Went to watch Kapihan sa Loob ng Isang Dula at DLSU's William Shaw Hall this evening. Nicco, Cris P, Russell, and Camille were all in it.

When I first got to read the first few pages from Nicco's script weeks ago, I couldn't understand much of it. All I knew was that there were these directors and actors bossing each other around. So he explained that it's a play within a play within a play. Santa banana.

Nicco gave me one of his compli tickets, yay. Well, I just I sort of obliged him to because I really wanted to understand what was going on in the play. Ahehehe, there were a couple of times that he would read some of his lines or words that he had trouble with, and we would end up discussing his character over the phone.

I found Naomi and Eka just in time. My ID was invalid, and I couldn't get into DLSU without a ticket, so they got my ticket for me. The three of us went to the theater together, and then they had decided to go backstage to bug Nicco in the dressing room. Found him there with Cris and a couple of the other actors, and got to hang around for a while until someone said that it was time for open house. Instead of going around to the lobby, we went to the audience area from the stage and got seats in the front row.

So basically, the gist of the play was what I had mentioned, a play within a play within a play. Cris' character was a director of a play that starred Nicco's initial character. And that character is a director of a play in which Camille is the star, who's a director of another play.

Wait, did that make sense?

Anyway, Cris' character is directing Nicco, who's directing Camille in the play that he's in. So what you see now is that Nicco plays two characters, an actor and a director. Camille has three, an actor in Cris' play, an actor within the play directed by Nicco, and a director.

Gah, I still don't know if I make sense. Basically everyone plays a schizo, ok?

Then lo and behold, halfway through the one-act play, someone shouts from the front row. Russell, the director of the whole banana. Wait... He's the director of Kapihan, and he also plays the director of Cris.

Everyone's character seemed to be neurotic in their own way. Cris keeps smoking and moved as if high on caffeine as Director 3, but keeps fidgeting as his character under Russell's Director 4. Nicco has a tick as the director character under Cris' Director 3, and insecure as hell, but goes all out mad and crazy as Director 2.

Hahaha, this was the third time I saw Russell act, and the second time I saw him perform as a serious actor (the first time was in Intersection). As the maestro/Director 4, he was like some director guy that was ready to toss the stools at the actors, hahaha. But once faced with Camille acting as Director 1, he becomes oblivious of everything and focuses on her.

Cris was a natural, what I can I say? For someone who was mentioned as best featured actor in a play for 2005, he certainly lived up to it. The kid's got great talent. He made everything seem so easy. From his monolgue at the beginning of the play until the very end, he never faltered. No wonder he's called "Master P", hahaha.

Then Nicco, the one I used to call my "favorite burgeoning actor". He seems to get all the interesting roles, and this was no exception. As his actor-chactacter under Cris, I had mentioned that nervous tick as a nuance. Then he managed to shift instantly as Director 2, this crazy director that Camille's character is under who gets annoyed at everyone. One thing I've noticed was that how he got angry at the cast he was in charge of. His patience was short, and kept raising his voice to the point of yelling. Knowing Nicco, he never does that in real life. Wahahaha, makes you think that he managed to bottle up all his anger and took it out there. Another refreshing performance from my baby bro, damn proud of you.

Wait, by the way, what was that you mentioned again after the show when we were out in the lobby? I still didn't figure out what you guys were going to talk about, or even who you're going to talk with.

Interesting play, very interesting. Written by a Japanese playwright and translated in Taglish (or Englog?), it gave a very colorful interpretation of the ranks of God (Russell), Society (Cris), Man (Nicco), and the Muse (Camille). Though I don't think no one in the audience really got its message. Heck, I only heard from it after the show, while sitting in Starbucks.

Congrats, guys. Watching it was worth my time. Thanks to y'all.

Ooooh, Lea's birthday yesterday. Belated Happy Birthday, Manang!