［菲律賓］馬洛·雅格

(注:作者簡(jiǎn)介：［菲律賓］馬洛﹒雅格，女，菲律賓人，聯(lián)合國教育科學(xué)文化組織國際戲劇協(xié)會(huì)菲律賓地區(qū)主席，國際劇協(xié)常務(wù)理事，國際劇協(xié)執(zhí)委會(huì)委員代表（Philippines Deputy of Executive member of I.T.I.）。研究方向：戲劇戲曲研究。)

（聯(lián)合國教科文組織 國際戲劇協(xié)會(huì)I.T.I.，巴黎75008）

摘 要：以宏觀的視野看待劇作的主題，劇作家的世界觀也隨之不斷變化著，在不斷經(jīng)歷著改變的同時(shí)，劇作家對(duì)整個(gè)人類狀況的認(rèn)識(shí)也在不斷擴(kuò)大和加深。劇作家必須通過選擇、修飾、增加或刪減或改編來向這些素材妥協(xié)，從而達(dá)成共識(shí)。在戲劇領(lǐng)域，必須通過人物性格和戲劇情節(jié)來達(dá)到這一目的。當(dāng)劇作家向劇中人物妥協(xié)時(shí)，實(shí)際上已經(jīng)改變了——尤其是他的世界觀。因此，不僅戲劇人物在改變，劇作改變了觀眾；劇作者本身，也為戲劇所改變著。

關(guān)鍵詞:菲律賓戲??；戲劇創(chuàng)作；戲劇形式；藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作

中圖分類號(hào)：J802文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識(shí)碼：A

一

我大概在20或21歲上在PETA（菲律賓教育戲劇協(xié)會(huì)）學(xué)的劇本寫作。我的老師是捷克劇作家兼導(dǎo)演Ladislav Smocek，一個(gè)謙謙君子。PETA的創(chuàng)始人，Cecile Guidote，一個(gè)愛夢(mèng)想的人，不知從哪個(gè)財(cái)主那里尋得了贊助，辦了個(gè)夏季劇場(chǎng)給Ladislav Smocek。為了這個(gè)劇場(chǎng)，我寫了個(gè)短劇——嚴(yán)格來說只是一些場(chǎng)景而已。短劇講的是一個(gè)學(xué)生演員和他身為警察的父親之間的一場(chǎng)沖突。Smocek夸我臺(tái)詞寫的不錯(cuò)，但我卻不是很明白他的意思。然而我的確是棄演從文了。那個(gè)短劇后來被Balintataw拍成了電視劇，片名為“Dapat”。其中Tommy Abuel飾演了那個(gè)年輕氣盛的學(xué)生，導(dǎo)演則是Lupita Concio。當(dāng)我第一次在電視上看到自己的劇上演時(shí)，非常的興奮。

我的第一個(gè)舞臺(tái)劇同樣也是以電視劇的形式出現(xiàn)的，名叫“Timbangan ay Tagilid”。那部劇是和SCC合作的，它是亞洲通訊基地的姐妹公司，由愛夢(mèng)想的荷蘭牧師Father Lagerwey創(chuàng)辦。這次我寫的是關(guān)于Bantay Ora火災(zāi)的事。Crisologos一把火燒了一個(gè)偏遠(yuǎn)的小鎮(zhèn)，僅僅因?yàn)楹笳邲]有將選票投給他。這個(gè)劇源于《現(xiàn)在》雜志上的一篇文章和一些照片。電視劇制成后，由于戒嚴(yán)令的頒布，SCC遭到了搜捕，因而從未播映過。

就在戒嚴(yán)令之前，電視劇已經(jīng)以名為“Aidao”的舞臺(tái)劇在福特﹒圣地亞哥，Intramuros的Rajah Sulayman大劇院上演。這次劇的主題涵蓋了土地問題。但是我有了個(gè)合作者，F(xiàn)ranklin Osorio。因?yàn)槲也恢廊绾螌懫渲械膼矍閳?chǎng)面，所以交由Franklin Osorio負(fù)責(zé)。而將那部劇改成關(guān)于基督教和穆斯林教沖突的舞臺(tái)劇則是塞西爾的主意。

我當(dāng)時(shí)還太年輕，沒法掌控那些復(fù)雜的問題；但是將背景從Ilocos搬到民大那峨島卻使我意識(shí)到南北方的土地問題是一樣的。從那時(shí)起，我開始對(duì)現(xiàn)代背景的劇感興趣了。那正是我所處的時(shí)代。事實(shí)上我的所有劇作都是取材于現(xiàn)代生活。即便偶爾寫寫歷史劇，那也是從20世紀(jì)的視角切入的。我的兩部獨(dú)角戲中，其中“Pepe”參照了Jose Rizal，“Teresa”則是Teresa Magbanua.

二

PETA(菲律賓教育戲劇協(xié)會(huì))訓(xùn)練了我去寫他人——那些比我處境更糟的大眾。我不知道這樣的思想是從何開始的。當(dāng)然塞西爾影響了我，還有她一手創(chuàng)辦的PETA。但，那個(gè)時(shí)侯，作為一個(gè)Maryknoll大學(xué)的學(xué)生，我所記得的就是在達(dá)沃度假時(shí)，看到的一個(gè)穆斯林商人，一個(gè)老翁，坐在一個(gè)小板凳上，而前兩年我都在同樣的地方看到了他。我記得我被這一場(chǎng)景深深打動(dòng)了。我猜這就是移情作用吧，雖然那時(shí)我還沒有聽說過亞里士多德的之一術(shù)語。

劇作家的移情不僅體現(xiàn)在她對(duì)劇作中人物的困境上，更重要的是同情那些她在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中遇到的、見到的人。有一段時(shí)間，我一直想當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為人人都有移情的能力，直到我年歲稍長(zhǎng)才意識(shí)到情況并非如此。只有你自己經(jīng)歷了痛苦才能去同情他人。我覺得，一個(gè)來自發(fā)展中國家，比如說菲律賓的劇作家，他應(yīng)該不可避免地會(huì)受苦，親眼目睹苦難，因而同情那些同樣處境艱難的人們。的確，不管一個(gè)劇作家喜歡與否，他終歸是他所處時(shí)代的產(chǎn)物。

南非作家安德列﹒布林克作為一個(gè)南非人，當(dāng)我將種族隔離寫進(jìn)我的作品時(shí)，那并不意味著我打算將種族隔離作為一個(gè)話題，一個(gè)“那兒發(fā)生的事”來寫。這是一個(gè)艱難的決定：那就是我選擇了我的寫作主題，但同樣我的主題也選擇了我。通常在和一些來自西方自由社會(huì)——像是美國、英國、法國及北歐的國家的作家研討時(shí)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)他們幾乎是帶著嫉妒的口吻談?wù)撃戏堑淖骷腋緹o需為找故事發(fā)愁。因?yàn)樗麄儠r(shí)時(shí)刻刻都在被動(dòng)蕩不定的時(shí)代潮流席卷著，他們身邊有的是好故事。

不，我寫的絕不是“那兒發(fā)生的事”：罪惡的種族隔離吞沒了我作為一個(gè)人的每一個(gè)隱秘的、私人角落。我的住處、工作、朋友和同事、我讓我的孩子上哪所學(xué)校、買條面包、生活中的一切瑣事甚至我的感情隱私都被侵犯了。無時(shí)無刻，種族隔離和執(zhí)行它的機(jī)構(gòu)不在侵犯著我。因此，當(dāng)我寫寫這條法令——就它的定義來看，它是一條最為孤獨(dú)的法令，我并不是脫離政治而是走進(jìn)其中，沉浸其中。我不是旁觀而是身臨其境。

從現(xiàn)在起，讓我們不要再想當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為涉及時(shí)政問題的作家都有什么秘密計(jì)劃，他們都是政府的口舌。

三、調(diào)查研究

對(duì)于一個(gè)正處于學(xué)習(xí)階段的、來自中上層階級(jí)的劇作家，調(diào)查研究的品質(zhì)決定了你的作品質(zhì)量：包括沖突、情節(jié)、人物性格、對(duì)話。你要敏感。善于觀察和聆聽。同時(shí)要有敞開胸懷、接受外界的意識(shí)。這里的調(diào)查研究不是你在大學(xué)里做的那些客觀的、考察智力的練習(xí)。這里所指的要多得多。通過發(fā)現(xiàn)、挖掘，和那些將會(huì)成為你劇中人物的人們面對(duì)面地交流，相應(yīng)地，不管你喜歡與否，你的身心、你的世界觀都會(huì)發(fā)生改變。但是你又會(huì)覺察不到那種改變直到某一天，當(dāng)你出席HS或大學(xué)同學(xué)聚會(huì)時(shí)，你才會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)你和昔日同窗的不同。有一天你會(huì)不再參加這些活動(dòng)，你發(fā)現(xiàn)那是在浪費(fèi)時(shí)間。你的一些最親密的朋友想法和你是如此的不同，你會(huì)自問這是背道而馳嗎？你不得不去另覓知音，然而那卻是異常地困難。

四、展示階段

我最難忘的一次經(jīng)歷是去Cordillera，為戲劇《麥考林》去作調(diào)查。這個(gè)Kalinga部落首領(lǐng)深深震撼了我。從沒有人反抗過麥奧斯，甚至是他那些哈佛、沃頓的政治專家們。可是，突然有一天不知從哪里冒出來的家伙，一個(gè)連自己名字都不會(huì)寫的家伙，對(duì)麥奧斯說：“不行！你不能將切克河改建成水壩，那會(huì)淹了我們的部落，我們都會(huì)淹死的，那些長(zhǎng)眠在我們身邊的古人也會(huì)被誰沖的無影無蹤的。”我自問這家伙是真人嗎？在我見到他之前他被槍殺了。所以我去了他的部落，見了那些了解他的人們。

見到北方的土著人時(shí)，我自我介紹稱“Macli-ing Dulag”。4月24日是當(dāng)?shù)厝说墓?jié)日，用以紀(jì)念Macli-ing。那是多年前的事了。凌晨4點(diǎn)我就起床趕往博漢公園參加這一盛事。NGOs組織了好幾輛公共汽車開往一個(gè)我一無所知的地方。行程整整一天。沿途稍作停息，但是沒有餐館也沒有休息室。好幾次我都不得不帶著廁紙和酒下車就地方便。當(dāng)時(shí)我還胃疼，我真希望我當(dāng)時(shí)是更年期癥狀。一直到晚上7點(diǎn)，我們總算到達(dá)目的地。但這趟行程還沒到頭呢，我們還得翻越一座山。恰巧天公不作美，開始下起了雨。我們都不得不以手作傘，穿過稻田，爬上了山。那真是漫漫長(zhǎng)路的艱苦跋涉??！我摔倒了好幾次。半夜時(shí)我們終于到達(dá)了山頂。我見到的第一個(gè)人便是后來的導(dǎo)演、演員和激進(jìn)派人士Adul de Leon。當(dāng)時(shí)他已經(jīng)在休息，喝著酒。我們被帶到了不同的小棚子。幾乎所有的人放下背上的行囊，倒頭便睡，真是累壞了。我不得不求助主人的女兒，讓她帶我到最近的井邊，我得洗個(gè)澡。周遭漆黑一片，我就那么洗了個(gè)露天澡。畢竟當(dāng)時(shí)已是半夜時(shí)分。就在那時(shí)，聽到什么聲音，一個(gè)醉漢搖搖晃晃地經(jīng)過。我當(dāng)時(shí)嚇得連忙拿手遮羞，主人的女兒將那醉漢“噓噓”地趕走了。

第二天便是卡諾——慶祝歡宴。但在那之前，客人們都排好隊(duì)，進(jìn)行了早晨的儀式——對(duì)著一個(gè)遮蓋好的、地上的洞，地上僅有一堵椰子樹葉子堆成的墻。我非常地不適應(yīng)，只好拼命地安慰自己到晚上我就可以在附近的薩伽達(dá)旅館休息了。我到了山頂?shù)目諘缰兀钦媸莻€(gè)美麗的清晨?？梢月牭借屄暋Ｈ藗儑闪藗€(gè)大圈，分發(fā)著最古老的盤子——半個(gè)椰殼，里面盛著水牛肉煮的清湯。肉很老，我壓根兒咬不動(dòng)，但我卻不得不假裝吃的津津有味，以免冒犯主人。我開始自問經(jīng)歷這些到底是為了什么。當(dāng)然了要怪也只能怪我自己。為了正在寫的劇作，我必須去親身經(jīng)歷，去調(diào)查研究，去感同身受，如此這般劇才能有質(zhì)量保證。我采訪了很多認(rèn)識(shí)Macli-ing的人。最后我實(shí)在是筋疲力盡了。我本應(yīng)該和那些人一起回卡林伽的。我還有這樣那樣的遺憾，但我實(shí)在是太不舒服了，不得已回了家。

這部劇由Socrates Topacio執(zhí)導(dǎo)，PETA制作完成。在排演前演員們就用心去領(lǐng)會(huì)了。導(dǎo)演處理空間的技巧至今仍令我驚奇。此劇在福特﹒圣地亞哥上演，利用了Rajah Sulayman大劇院的外部空間，包括城墻。那真是史無前例的創(chuàng)舉！在演員Connie Chua, Nanding Josef, Joel ，Lamangan, Mary Joan Fajardo和合唱團(tuán)的共同努力下，我的劇真的被演活了。當(dāng)此劇在UP Baguio一個(gè)露天籃球場(chǎng)（遺憾的是我錯(cuò)過了這場(chǎng)演出）演出時(shí)，因?yàn)橛^眾中土著人民的熱烈反響，導(dǎo)演禁不住淚流滿面。MACLI-ING是我對(duì)土著人民歌頌之情的源泉。

我贊美他們對(duì)于土地的觀念：“你不能擁有土地；而是土地?fù)碛心?。土地比你?jīng)受的多，在歲月長(zhǎng)河里待的時(shí)間遠(yuǎn)比你長(zhǎng)。”我贊美他們的Bodong條約：各個(gè)部落聚首通過商討解決分歧而簽署的和平協(xié)議。我贊美他們的Dap-ay：部落的長(zhǎng)者坐在一起商量問題，達(dá)成共識(shí)。他們?cè)趯?shí)行真正的民主。沒有詭計(jì)，沒有我們現(xiàn)代文明社會(huì)的權(quán)力中心，像Malacanang，參議院、國會(huì)里普遍共有的操作。

五、調(diào)查研究和展示影響了你劇本的主題

隨著你以宏觀的視野看待自己所寫劇作的主題，你的世界觀也隨之不斷變化著。作為一個(gè)人類，你也在不斷經(jīng)歷著改變；你對(duì)整個(gè)人類狀況的認(rèn)識(shí)在不斷擴(kuò)大和加深。但是你不可能把你搜集到的全部塞進(jìn)你的劇作。你必須通過選擇、修飾、增加或刪減或改編來向這些素材妥協(xié)，從而達(dá)成共識(shí)。

在某種程度上，我想你在其他的藝術(shù)形式上也會(huì)這么做。但是在戲劇領(lǐng)域，你必須通過人物性格和戲劇情節(jié)來達(dá)到這一目的。當(dāng)你向你的人物妥協(xié)時(shí)，你實(shí)際上已經(jīng)改變了——尤其是你的世界觀。因此，不僅你的戲劇人物在改變，你的劇改變了你的觀眾；你自己，身為劇作者，也為戲劇所改變著。

六

戲劇的的確確改變了我，而我就是一個(gè)鮮活的例子。戲劇治愈了我的創(chuàng)傷。當(dāng)時(shí)我二十七八歲的樣子，剛剛完成碩士研究生學(xué)業(yè)；甚至距離和流放的菲律賓人不斷聯(lián)系后的好多年，我仍然受著童年時(shí)的精神創(chuàng)傷的困擾。那時(shí)，我遇到了已是Juan Tamban的Estong，他徹底改變了我的世界。在我遇到了這個(gè)孤兒小男孩后，我怎能繼續(xù)沉湎于自怨自艾呢？他是一個(gè)靠吃昆蟲過活的、流浪街頭的孩子。一個(gè)甚至被上帝都遺忘了的孩子。我開始踏上尋找他的漫漫征途，從Hospicio de San Jose到位于Kapalaran街的他的阿姨家，再輾轉(zhuǎn)到palengke of Mandaluyong，最后又回到Hospicio。當(dāng)我最終找到他時(shí)，我起初有些害怕他。11歲的他卻只有7歲的心智，我發(fā)現(xiàn)他是我所見到的最溫順的孩子。可以說是一種溫順的野蠻。我以這一孤兒為原型，將他改寫成一個(gè)被人收養(yǎng)，卻被逼去市場(chǎng)行竊，最后成了一個(gè)看車童，糾纏上一個(gè)有錢的主婦，希望被領(lǐng)養(yǎng)，最終因?yàn)楸辉┩鲹尠涝诹司辛糁行?。他被那些年齡稍長(zhǎng)的孩子逼著去吃蟑螂、蜥蜴和老鼠，以此作為踏上他們那條道的儀式。當(dāng)寫下這些場(chǎng)景時(shí)我不禁哭了，我滌蕩清了自己身上的殘忍的一面。我寫這部劇時(shí)所經(jīng)歷的情緒上的劇變不會(huì)再重復(fù)出現(xiàn)在我的下一部劇中了。

七、形式

我相信形式是深嵌在一部劇作中的，你要做的就是在費(fèi)力加工素材時(shí)，去發(fā)現(xiàn)適合的形式。毫無預(yù)計(jì)的，我最終以宗教劇的傳統(tǒng)形式完成了Macli-ing 。

在劇的開場(chǎng)部分，在必不可少的介紹了卡林伽村莊后，面對(duì)著Macli-ing的家，在他的墳上開出了一朵花。這是一個(gè)預(yù)兆——Macli-ing一定是想和人們交流。他的妻子，薩芒，請(qǐng)來了Babailan。Babailan進(jìn)行了一套儀式召回Macli-ing的靈魂到她的身體里。她變得神志恍惚。Babailan現(xiàn)在成了Macli-ing。閃回鏡頭包含了殺頭儀式，法西斯主義者的狂舞，戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的狂舞和死神的舞蹈。Juan Tamban，再一次毫不情愿地，成為了菲律賓的布萊希特式的歷史劇。寫這部劇的時(shí)候，布萊希特的學(xué)生，F(xiàn)ritz Bennewitz，The Berliner Ensemble的導(dǎo)演，每年都會(huì)來菲律賓教育戲劇協(xié)會(huì)。Anatomiya ng Korupsyon和Country In Search of a Hero成為了社會(huì)政治諷刺劇。再一次地，它們沒有經(jīng)過精心籌劃就這樣形成了。最終我想是這兩部劇中的荒謬場(chǎng)景決定了它們的形式。

發(fā)展形式是最為困難的，因?yàn)槟悴饺肓私Y(jié)構(gòu)的領(lǐng)域——情節(jié)。魯莽而又令人興奮的調(diào)查研究和揭露已經(jīng)過去?，F(xiàn)在是時(shí)候讓劇作家看看她在準(zhǔn)備階段是否卓有成效了。一個(gè)人靜靜地在房間，寫下事件，情節(jié)和高潮。問題的關(guān)鍵在于怎樣從情節(jié)1一直到情節(jié)10。對(duì)于我而言，這是劇本創(chuàng)作過程中最為艱難的部分。Tinio稱之為“脫衣舞表演”——擺出觀點(diǎn)和與之針鋒相對(duì)的反觀點(diǎn)；戲劇性的行動(dòng)和反應(yīng)；隨著新人物的出場(chǎng)和退場(chǎng)而來的復(fù)雜情節(jié)；在刻畫人物性格時(shí)的一些事實(shí)，這些事實(shí)的堆砌帶來沖突的上升并最終引向戲劇的高潮。對(duì)話和行動(dòng)之間必須相互影響。和電影劇作家一樣，戲劇作家也要有圖像思維。戲劇的風(fēng)格在該劇的高潮部分凸顯了出來：涌過來的醫(yī)生、警察和戴著紙面具的法官出現(xiàn)在Juan Tamban的噩夢(mèng)中。他最終逃出拘留中心的那一幕被打上了藍(lán)色的燈光。在Macli-ing之死那一幕中，他最終被槍殺，他的妻子背著他的尸體的那一場(chǎng)景中，山被設(shè)計(jì)成了軍綠色。垂死的Macli-ing趴在妻子的背上，他們緩緩從前臺(tái)隱退，淹沒在了觀眾爆發(fā)的熱烈掌聲中。

觀眾對(duì)于劇作家而言觀眾至關(guān)重要。當(dāng)劇作家在后臺(tái)緊張地踱步，等待臺(tái)前觀眾的反應(yīng)時(shí)，他肯定已經(jīng)看過首演的賬目了。一部劇的成敗取決于觀眾的看法，取決于觀眾的評(píng)論和批評(píng)。Juan Tamban取得了票房大賣的好成績(jī)，它的票房收入支撐了PETA下一季的開銷。之后，它又在Pampanga、Bulacan、Iloilo、Cebu、Davao、Cagayan de Oro等多個(gè)地方上演。它還被翻譯成米沙鄢語。和JT一樣，想要觀看Macli-ing的人排成了長(zhǎng)隊(duì)。

PEPE，一部關(guān)于Jose Rizal的獨(dú)幕劇，由CCP Tanghalang Pilipino在33個(gè)城市上演了。Anatomiya of Korupsyon，首先由CCP Tanghalang Pilipino演出，之后由各種各樣的劇團(tuán)在Iloko, Hiligaynon,Visayan和Bicol的鄉(xiāng)村上演。目前，它還通過廣播，以一個(gè)名叫Sugpuin ang korupsyon的節(jié)目在播放。節(jié)目名字的意思是戲劇場(chǎng)景來源于聽眾的真實(shí)經(jīng)歷。

八、主題中的諷刺

回顧我的劇作，我開始注意到它們是由諷刺推進(jìn)的。例如在Juan Tamban中：

Juan Tamban

Bakit ka nagkaganyan?

Ang tatay at nanay mo, nasaan?

Ang bayan mo bay maaasahan?

Ano itong iyong napasukan?

Ikaw bay may patutunguhan?

Anong kabihasnan ang iyong pinanggalingan?

Ipis, butikit daga ang pantawid buhay sa iyoy ibinigay.

Sa bawat araw ikaw ay pinapatay.

Bakit ka pa pinagkalooban ng buhay?

Bakit ka pa pinagkalooban ng buhay?

在Macli-ing中：

Bakit ang alagad ng Kapayapaan

Tuwinay namamatay sa dahas?

Ang kasaysayan ng mundoy butas-butas

Sa talim ng punyal at tadtad ng punlong

Umuutang sa buhay ng mga taong hangan lamang

Ay katarungan. Macli-ing, Macli-ing.

以及在Anatomiya ng Korupsyon中，緊張的狀態(tài)，在上升的沖突中的推動(dòng)力和牽扯力都來源于諷刺。在有機(jī)的情景設(shè)置中，人物就自然而然地凸顯出來了。但是還是Anatomiya ng Korupsyon將我?guī)肓俗顐ゴ蟮闹S刺——那就是生活中的諷刺。這部劇的主要人物都以真實(shí)人物為原型。但是劇中人物的掙扎，較之現(xiàn)實(shí)中的人物顯得蒼白?，F(xiàn)實(shí)生活比虛構(gòu)的世界要荒誕得多。下面是我的悼詞，為我的另一劇作“La Mancha的女人”。

我講述了我寫作的過程。我相信其他的劇作家也有他們自己的過程。這些都必須得以保存，尤其是那些寫的人物、情節(jié)和主題將會(huì)使得菲律賓戲劇真正保有獨(dú)創(chuàng)的菲律賓風(fēng)格的作品。這是應(yīng)對(duì)全球化威脅的一個(gè)策略。

A PLAYWRIGHTS MEDITATION

Malou Jacob

I

I discovered Playwriting in PETA maybe at age 20 or 21. My teacher was Czech playwright & director Ladislav Smocek. I still have to meet a more unassuming person than this guy. PETA Founder, the visionary Cecile Guidote (nightmare of managers) brought him over through some Rockefeller or Ford Grant for a summer workshop. To qualify for the workshop I wrote a short play just some scenes I think . It was about a conflict situation between a student activist and a policeman father. Smocek said I had a nose for dialogue. I didn't know what he meant exactly . But I dropped acting for writing. That piece became "Dapat" a teleplay for Balintataw. Tommy Abuel was the young,fiery student; Lupita Concio, the TV director. I had butterflies in my stomach-watching my first play on television.

My first stageplay also started as a teleplay, "Timbangan ay Tagilid" with Social Communications Center(SCC) , sister company of Communication Foundation for Asia founded by another visionary, Dutch priest Father Lagerwey who started a TV series . I chose to write about the Bantay Ora burning.The Crisologos burned a remote barrio that did not vote for them. It was based on an article and b/w photos in Now Magazine . The teleplay was produced but never got on air because SCC was raided when martial law was declared.

Just before martial law, the teleplay was already a stageplay "Aidao",being staged at the Rajah Sulayman Theater at Fort Santiago, Intramuros.The theme was expanded to include the land problem. But I had a co-writer, Franklin Osorio. I didn't know how to write love scenes. He wrote them.It was Cecile's idea to turn it into a stageplay on Christian Muslim conflict.

I was still too young to grasp the complexity of the problem; but bringing the setting from Ilocos to Mindanao made me realize that the land problem in the North and the South was the same. This started my interest in contemporary situations.My time. In fact, all my plays draw from contemporary life. But even when I wrote occasional historical plays, they were treated from the 20th猚entury point of view. I am referring to my two monologues- "Pepe" on Jose Rizal and "Teresa"on Teresa Magbanua.

II

The Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) trained me to write about the other- the majority who are in a worst state than I am. I don't how this particular frame of mind started. Certainly Cecile influenced me and, then, PETA, the organization she founded. But, then, I remember that as a college student of Maryknoll, while vacationing in Davao, and upon seeing a Muslim vendor, an old man, sitting on a stool at the same spot where I saw him last year and the other year, I recall being deeply affected by this. I guess, this was already empathy at work on me, even before I learned it from Aristotle.

Empathy must be developed by playwrights not only for the predicament of the characters in the play she writes, but, most specially, for the people she sees/meets in real life. There was a time I took for granted that everyone had empathy until at a late age I realized that not everyone has it. It has to grow in you through your own pain and suffering. And I guess, a playwright from a developing country like the Philippines can't help but suffer, see suffering, and therefore, empathize with those in a similar plight. Indeed, the playwright whether she likes it or not is a product of her times.South African writer Andre Brink:

When apartheid figures in my writing as a South African it does not mean that I decided to write "about" apartheid as a topic, as "something out there". It is hardly a decision: I am as much chosen by my subject as it is chosen by me. Often, in discussion with writers from the great free societies of the west-the US , Britain, France, the Scandinavian countries-I detect a note almost of envy in them when they discuss the "problems" of the South African writer who has no need to go "in search of" a story but is continually overwhelmed by a great wave of turbulent contemporary history washing over him or her.

No, it is decidedly NOT "something out there" I write about: the devastating politics of apartheid engulfs every hidden, private corner of my existence as an individual. Where I live, where and what I teach, my association with friends and colleagues, the choice of a school for my children, the buying of loaf of bread, the minutiae of my life and the privacies of my love are all invaded, every moment of my waking and sleeping life, by politics and the power structures from which it emanates. So that, when I write, this very act-which is also, by definition, a most solitary act-becomes not a withdrawal from politics but an entry, an immersion into it. I do not write from " out there" but from " in here".

From now on let us please stop thinking that playwrights of social issues have hidden agendas and are propagandists.

Ⅲ RESEARCH

For you budding playwrights from the upper and middle classes,the quality of RESEARCH determines the quality of your PLAY : Conflict, Plot, Characterization, Dialogue. Be sensitive. Observe. Eavesdrop. And lay open your soul/your consciousness to take in the truth that is out there.This RESEARCH is not the objective, intellectual exercise that you do in the university. No, it has to be more than that. With the discovery, the unearthing of data, with coming face to face with people who will become composite characters in your play, there is a corresponding change in your heart and mind. You undergo a change of worldview, whether you like it or not. But you don't even notice this change until suddenly, when you attend HS or college reunions, you're different from your classmates. You have outgrown them. Time will come when you will stop attending these events because it's a waste of time.Some of your closest friends think so differently from you or is it the other way around? You have to find some soulmates which can be very, very difficult.

IV EXPOSURE

My most memorable exposure trip was to the Cordillera for the play, MACLI-ING. I was really fascinated by this Kalinga tribal leader. Nobody ever defied Marcos, not even his technocrats from Harvard or Wharton. Then, this guy who could not even write his name, appeared from nowhere and said No to Marcos: "No! You can't convert the Chico River into a dam because this will flood our communities; and we will all disappear including our dead who are buried around us." I asked myself, is this guy for real? Well, he was gunned down by the military before I could even meet him. And so I traveled to the people, the communities that knew him.

"Macli-ing Dulag" was my introduction to our Indigenous Peoples in the North. April 24 Cordillera Day is a day of celebration honoring Macli-ing. I woke up early to be at Burham Park at 4am some years ago to join this event. Several buses were going to I didn't even know where-organized by the NGOs. It was a whole day bus ride. We had some stops but there were no restaurants nor restrooms. And I had to go down several times with my toilet paper and alcohol. I had stomach pains and, oh, how I wished I were menopausal. At 7pm, we final reached our destination. But it was not the end of the travel, we still had to cross a mountain. It started to rain. We all held hands and we crossed the rice terraces, going up the mountain. It was a very, very slow trek. I slipped several times. At midnight, we reached the top of the mountain. The first person I saw who was already resting and drinking water was the late director/actor/activist Adul de Leon. We were brought to different huts. Almost everyone put down their backpacks on the floor and just slept out of sheer exhaustion. I had to ask the daughter of our host to bring me to the nearest artesan well because I had to take a bath. It was pitch dark and so I just took a bath in that open space.After all it was past midnight. Then, there were noises, a drunk was passing by;I froze with my tabo in my hand but the daughter was able to shoo him away.

The next day was the CANAO-the festivities. But before this, the guests lined up for the morning ritual-a covered hole on the ground with barely a wall of coconut leaves. I had to forego this to my discomfort, assuring myself that before night fall I will be in a Sagada hostel nearby. I went to the open space on top of the mountain. It was a beautiful morning. Gong music could be heard. There was a big circle and they passed around the most anticipated dish-boiled carabao meat in a very clear soup served in a half coconut shell. The meat was tough; and I couldn't bite on it but, I had to pretend that I was eating it so that they will not take offence. I was beginning to ask myself why I had to go through all this. Well, I had no one to blame but myself. I had to leave no stone unturned for the sake of the play that I was writing which was going to be only as good as the quality of my research and exposure. I interviewed a lot of people who knew Macli-ing. But I could not go the extra mile. I should have joined the group that went back to Kalinga. I should have done this. I should have done that. But the discomfort was too much, I had to go home.

The play was produced by PETA with Socrates Topacio as director. The PETA actors did their own exposure before rehearsals. I still marvel at the attack on the space by the director. It was performed at Fort Santiago, utilizing the space outside the Rajah Sulayman Theater, including the ramparts. It was an incredible use of the space never done before. My play really jumped out of the pages and took on a life of its own with actors Connie Chua, Nanding Josef, Joel Lamangan, Mary Joan Fajardo, and the Kalinangan Ensemble giving it authenticity. When it was performed at UP Baguio open basketball court (which I missed) the director burst into tears because of the electrifying response of the Indigenous Peoples who were part of the audience.MACLI-ING is the root of my appreciation for our Indigenous Peoples.

I admire 1.their Concept of Land : "You can't own it; it owns you. It outlives you." their Bodong: the peace pact arrived at after the various tribes come together to discuss and resolve their differences. the Dap-ay: where the elders of their community sit together to discuss and arrive at a consensus on how to solve their problems.True democracy at work. No machinations. No manipulations so common in the corridors of power of our modern civilization -Malacanang, Senate &Congress.

V RESEARCH and EXPOSURE impact

on the theme of your play

Your worldview is constantly changing as you gain a macro view on the subject matter of your play. You are also changing as a human being;expanding and adding depth to your grasp and understanding of the human condition. But you just don't convert the data you gathered into a play. You meet your material half way by selecting, modifying and adding/expanding/ fictionalizing.

In a way, I guess you do this, too, in the other artforms; but in Drama, you have to do it thru characters and the situation (plot). As you meet your characters halfway, you have actually undergone a change already-especially in your worldview. So, your play not only has characters who are undergoing changes; the play changes your audience; it also changes you, the playwright.

VI

Theater has, indeed, changed me. I am a living proof that Theater for healing/therapy works. I was 27 or 28, just back from MA Studies; and even after years of DGs with Filipinos in exile on the Philippine situation, was still traumatized by my childhood years. Then, I met Estong who became Juan Tamban and turned my world upside down. How could I still indulge in my angsts, in self- pity after meeting a boy who was an orphan. A streetchild who ate insects to survive. A child, forgotten even by God. I sought him out from Hospicio de San Jose to the house of his aunt in Kapalaran street to the palengke of Mandaluyong and, then, back to Hospicio. Then, when I finally met him, I was at first afraid of him. Eleven years old with a mental age of seven, I found him to be the gentlest child I had ever met. The gentle savage, so to speak.And as I transformed him from an orphan into a child of a scavenger and a food vendor, who was tasked to steal in the market; who ended up as a watch your car boy, who pestered a rich matron by begging her to adopt him, and ended up in a rehabilitation center after being wrongly accused of bag snatching; undergoing an initiation rite inflicted by the older boys to eat cockroaches, lizards & rats, I purged myself of my own demons finding myself crying while writing some of the scenes of the play. The emotional upheaval I experienced in writing this play was not going to be repeated in my next plays.

VII FORM

I believe that the FORM IS EMBEDDED IN THE PLAY, you just have to find it as you wade through your material. Without intending to, I ended up writing Macli-ing in the tradition of The Ritual Theater. At the opening scene, after the obligatory introduction of a Kalinga Village, they notice that a flower has blossomed on topof Macli-ing's burial ground fronting his family's hut. This is an omen. Macli-ing must want to communicate with them. The wife, Samun, asks for the Babailan. She performs a ritual calling on Macli-ing's spirit to enter her body. She goes into a trance. The Babailan becomes Macli-ing. The flashback scenes include a beheading ritual , a dance of the fascists, a dance of war, and a dance of death. Juan Tamban, again without willing it, turned out to be an example of Philippine Brechtian Epic Theater. It was written when the disciple of Brecht, Fritz Bennewitz, a director of The Berliner Ensemble, came to PETA every year. Anatomiya ng Korupsyon and Country In Search of a Hero/ Bayang Pinagtaksilan ng Panahon became social/political satires. Again, they just turned out that way.In the end, I guess the ridiculousness of the situations in both plays dictated the form.

Developing the form is the most difficult. One enters the realm of the structure.Plotting. Gone are the heady, exciting days of research and exposure. Now, the playwright will find out if she has been sloppy in the preparatory stage.Alone in your room, you write your inciting incident, point of attack, and the climax.The problem is how to get from plot point 1 to the plot point 10. For me, this is the most laborious stage in playwriting. The "striptease act" as Tinio called it-the placement and built up of the arguments and counter arguments; the dramatic action and reaction; the complications that arise from new characters coming in and out; the facts from the character sketches that become dramatic devices that bring about the rising conflict so necessary to arrive at the highest point in the play.There has to be an interplay of dialogue and action. Like the screenwriter, the playwright has to think also in pictures. And Spectacle/ Theatricality comes inat the climax of the play: the coming in of the doctor, the policeman, the judgeholding huge paper mache masks on the pole attacking Juan Tamban in a nightmare scene lit in blue before he finally escapes from the detention center or the dance of death of Macli-ing when he is finally gunned down and carried by his wife in a choreographed movement up the stage, a mountain designed in green army fatigue.The dying Macli-ing is carried on his wife's back as they slowly disappear fromupstage to the spontaneous outbreak of applause.

AUDIENCE:The audience is very important to the playwright. Surely, you have read accounts of opening nights when the playwright paces nervously at the back of the theater waiting for some reaction from the audience. A play is a success or a failure depending on how it is received by the audience which is reflected in reviews and critiques.Juan Tamban was a box office hit. Its ticket sales supported the next productions of the season of PETA, then, it was produced in Pampanga, Bulacan, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and so forth. It has been translated into Visayan. Just like JT, Macli-ing had people lining up to watch it.

PEPE, a monologue on Jose Rizal was performed in 33 cities by CCP Tanghalang Pilipino. Anatomiya of Korupsyon was first produced by CCP Tanghalang Pilipino and, then, in Iloko, Hiligaynon, Visayan, and Bicol, produced by various theater groups in the country. Currently, it is on radio, with a spin off program, Sugpuin ang korupsyon-which means the situations now being dramatized come from the experiences of the listeners.

IRONY in the THEME

Looking back at my plays now, I start to notice that they are propelled by Irony. In Juan Tamban:

Juan Tamban

Bakit ka nagkaganyan?

Ang tatay at nanay mo, nasaan?

Ang bayan mo ba'y maaasahan?

Ano itong iyong napasukan?

Ikaw ba'y may patutunguhan?

Anong kabihasnan ang iyong pinanggalingan?

Ipis, butiki't daga ang pantawid buhay sa iyo'y ibinigay.

Sa bawa't araw ikaw ay pinapatay.

Bakit ka pa pinagkalooban ng buhay?

Bakit ka pa pinagkalooban ng buhay?

In Macli-ing:

Bakit ang alagad ng Kapayapaan

Tuwina'y namamatay sa dahas?

Ang kasaysayan ng mundo'y butas-butas

Sa talim ng punyal at tadtad ng punlong

Umuutang sa buhay ng mga taong hangan lamang

Ay katarungan. Macli-ing, Macli-ing.

And in Anatomiya ng Korupsyon:The tension, the push and pull in the rising conflict has resulted from the ironyso organic in the situation the characters are in.But it is Anatomiya ng Korupsyon that has introduced me to the greatest ironyof all-the irony in life. The main character of this play is based on a real person. But the struggle of my character in the play pales in comparison with struggle of this person in real life giving teeth to the very common saying:Life is stranger than fiction. And this is my continuing lament. My lamentfor my "Woman of La Mancha."

I have decribed my process of playwriting. Other playwrights, I am sure, have developed their own. These must be preserved, especially in the writing of characters, plots, and themes that will make and preserve Philippine Theater as truly Philippine Theater that produces original Filipino works.This is one way of dealing with the threat of Globalization.（責(zé)任編輯：郭妍琳）

A Playwright's Meditation

［Philippines］ Malou Jacob

(International Theatre Institute, Paris,75008)

Abstract: As you regard the theme of your play from a macro perspective, your worldview changes. As a human being, you are also experiencing changes; your understanding on the human condition is continuously broadened and deepened. But it is impossible for you to put all you have collected into your plays. You must compromise with these materials by selection, modification, addition and deletion so as to reach agreement. To some degree, I think you will do like this in other artistic forms. But in the field of drama, you must achieve this through characters and plots. When you compromise with your characters, you have actually changed already-especially your worldview. Therefore, not only your characters are changing and your play has changed your audience; you, as the playwright, are also being changed by the play.

Key Words:Philippine drama; dramatic creation; dramatic form