HARING +UBU-L

Sipat Lawin Ensemble’s Filipino adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi, the first avant garde theatrical piece is so wrong in many levels that it has gone full circle and became so right. It’s offensive, gross, filthy and oh so awesome. I loved it.

Sipat Lawin Ensemble is an edge-work site-specific theater company formed mainly by graduates of the Philippine High School for the Arts and other collaborating artists. I welcome the entry of this group of really talented, unassuming geniuses into the “mainstream” theater scene. They really are a breath of fresh air to the commercially (as commercial as theater gets) motivated performances that major companies stage these days.

Haring Tubul is not broadway in anyway. Nor is it a politically correct PETA production. It’s entertainment but so much more. It is so unfortunate that I cannot invite everyone to watch this performance for the simple reason that not everyone is intelligent enough to appreciate it.

To those who want depth and profundity, this play will not leave you wanting for it offers a very deep socio-political commentary; albeit sandwiched between profane language and obscenity. Look beyond the racy language and the humping and pumping and the gore and slime, and you will find a message so relevant to us today. Power hungry, greed, ambition, gluttony, avarice are words we usually relate to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and many traditional politicians. Yet this play is so much more than an attack on the country’s political leaders. It pokes your consciousness and makes you think, but it does it so subtly that you just get entertained only to realize later on that “oo nga no?”

You laugh and wonder why you are laughing so hard about something that propriety dictates as improper. You laugh when you should be offended; only to realize that its obscenity is precisely what makes it funny. It’s so disgusting it’s provocative. So impertinent that it is pleasantly entertaining.

An avant garde piece like this can and will only work with a strong ensemble cast (Acey Aguilar, Nar Cabico, Sheenly Gener, Dorothea Marabut) and an artistic and production staff of the highest caliber (music/sound designer Teresa Barrozo, prod designers Leeroy New, Eisa Jocson, Santi Obcena & Tuxqs Rutaquio, and director JK Anicoche). Sipat Lawin Ensemble is just that. Young, talented, brilliant, gifted -- artists committed to their craft without coming off as cocky; takes pride in what they do and keeps their dignity without insulting their audience’s intellect.

Franc lee speaking, Haring Tubul has got to be the most entertaining theater production I have seen this year. I know it’s only March, there’s so much more plays to watch and I can’t wait to see what Sipat Lawin Ensemble is offering next.

I f I must summarize my Haring Tubul experience in a phrase, I only have this to say…”PUTANG INA, ANG GANDA!”