SILAY SA LENTE REVIEW: RELIVING THE PAST EJK MURDER CASES

“Be careful, it is dangerous outside. We don’t know what’s lurking around the streets at night.”

The horrifying drug-war killings under Duterte’s Administration was remembered by BSE English Chinese 2A on their recent theater performance on December 7, 2022. The playwright, Rona Jane Gula, took the brutality and injustice brought by the War on Drugs Campaign during year 2016 and 2017 as the central theme of the performance. With just 23 students, who acted as the cast and served as the production team simultaneously, the BSE English Chinese 2A managed to create a magnificent play that lasted about 45 minutes and has a sing-and-dance number. 

The play gave off an eerie feeling, as there are little to no scenes with a cheerful message. Each scene was filled with a tense and heavy energy because the production team wanted to show the audience on what really happened on the victims of the cruel campaign, and how did the Filipinos live with fear of the countless killings that happened on every corner of the streets at night. 

Despite the whole production team only having one and a half month to write the play, practice the sing and dance performance, and rehearse the scenes, the actors delivered their lines smoothly and managed to portray their characters perfectly. The star of the play, Jerico Galvez, swayed the audience with his excellent acting as Kyle. Goosebumps were felt on the skin when Jerico screamed and begged for mercy before he was killed. The one who acted as president, Simon Peter Buquel, frightened and angered the audience with his strong presence as a dictator who kills everyone who gets on his way. Furthermore, the entire cast were amazing as they transition from an actor to a production member in just a short amount of time. 

In contrary to the sing and dance performance, the production team doesn’t think that their play was “musical” because the characters didn’t sing in their dialogues. Instead, they think of it as something like “a play with a sing-and-dance transition.” Every sing and dance performance were breathtaking and phenomenal. The dancers were charismatic and the singers sang with clarity throughout show. “You were the only play that started with a dance number,” said Ms. Stephie Cambe, a Speech and Theater Art professor. It’s impressive that the team revealed that the actors were also the one who choreographed the dance and sang the sound track. The dances were made to highlight the characters. Meanwhile, the songs in the sound track ranges from musical genre to pop genre. Rosalie May Bautista, the woman behind the melody, led the fantastic choir performance at the end of the play. 

The stage design was a newspaper wall that has vandalism and pictures of missing person on it. It also had a touch of handprints in red color that looks like it was touched with a person's bloody hands. Furthermore, the lights system was pretty average as the production team did a DIY spotlight. The sound system on the other hand, had some delays during the play just like the lights. It is entirely fine because the key player of the show was the cast’s performance. 

The Silay Sa Lente Performance sealed the deal for the BSE English-Chinese students. The production team meticulously planned and executed the performance. Choosing a relevant issue like the EJK murder cases as the focus of the story was also a game changer. The playwright and director knew what they had to do in order to show the audience a perfect depiction of what happened to the victims of War on Drugs campaign. They created a story that uncovered the immoral actions and brutality of the government and the policemen, and the heart-rending lives of Filipinos. Overall, it’s a great show that tackles about the dark and cruel side of the Philippines.