THE longest running stage play in Cebu to date isn’t over yet.
‘Berde,’ Focus Production’s latest theater piece, will again hit Cebu City on Sunday, Sept. 30 at the Marcelo Fernan Cebu Press Center in sitio Sudlon, barangay Lahug, Cebu City.
Show schedules are 10 a.m., 12 noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
The play is written and translated in Filipino by Loyd Sato from the original material entitled, “Clash of the Cymbals” by national artist Wilfredo Ma. Guerrero.
Sato, who also directed “Piring” and “Bus Terminal,” crafted a daring plot that is threaded invisibly by a solid story and dissolving moments of tears and excitement about two young men whose struggles, youth, joys and triumphs lampoon the current situation of homosexuality and same sex relationships in the family and the community we live in.
While the play is gay themed, Sato gracefully developed the story inculcating a lesson to its audience that at its core, Berde is not a gay love story but is simply a love story.
Definitely, Berde is one of the most exciting pieces of theater production to hit Cebu in a long time.
The production is set to tour around the different provinces of Cebu starting this September.
In introspection, once in a while, a theater piece comes our way leaving us motivated and awe-inspired to become better individuals; challenging our thoughts and the norms we are accustomed to. Berde will be one of those rare stage productions that earn its feel-good ending without turning a blind eye to the compromises and sorrows of everyday life. Berde will always remain as the story of our lives.
Berde is foremost a story of a father, mother, and a son, and their relationship with each other, and how this relationship has changed the very core of their own existence.
The play is about the lives of Edwin and Butch and their seemingly unorthodox love affair. Both come from a rich prominent but unstable family. Edwin has a strict military captain for a father, who without discreet curses his son, and a mother who spoils him and dresses Edwin up as a girl when he was still young. Butch, on the other hand, has a drunkard for a father, who left him when he was young, and a cold and frigid mother who accepts Butch as he is.
The play starts with the not-so typical acquaintance of two individuals who are outwardly different in appearance. As the story progresses, the audience are ushered to the wealthy and grandiose house of Edwin which metaphors their social status. The conflict unfolds when Edwin’s father comes home and sees the truth about his son.
To date, Berde is the longest running stage play in Cebu with 50 performances–a great feat in local theater industry.
For ticket inquiries, contact (0923) 7470900 or e-mail at focus_productions@ymail.com.