Adarna by Dulaang UP

          Adarna is a well known Filipino tale that gives a high impact to the Filipinos. And it can also be considered as one of the most loved  tales in the Philippines. The Dulaang UP, as they are now at their 38^th season, they perform Adarna. They show the life of Don Juan, the youngest of the three princes in the story. They take  their journey to find the mystical bird called Ibong Adarna to cure their father who is sick who  is the king of Berbanya. Don Juan faced so many challenges like he encounters with sage men and beautiful princesses and stuggles that would test his courage and mettle.

     UP Diliman’s Adarna is somehow pragmatic and unique in a sense that they used shadow play or puppetry. They perform with a story telling device like the figures that is being projected in the crafts paper. The set design is simple but it is amazing in a way that they used craft papers and bamboos to show the magical creatures in the play.

         I also like the interpretation of the Ibong Adarna, they used 7 beautiful actresses as well as those who can sing with their different colors to represent the 7 colors of the Ibong Adarna. They also used multiple actors, Don Juan is represented by 3 actors maybe it’s for the purpose of more fluid performance. Even they used different actors in one character, the play still move forward smoothly. Their costumes are almost the same, they wear black shirt and black pants but the others like the Ibong Adarna, they also wear some colorful clothes for the representation of the mystical bird. The script of the play is also good because they came up with the words that the audiences can understand easily and can relate too. And there is also some comedy that the audiences can involve their emotions and can understand what the play needs to portray.

            The actors performed well and even there are some flaws, they can still continue the show and go back to what’s happening in the story. The deliverance of the message didn’t fail and they achieved the goal they want, to engage the people in the play and to feel what they feel which is very important for the theater plays.

But I believe that even their play is a very successful one, there are still things to work on. They only lack on the more colorful costumes but all in all it’s good. It’s worth to watch and very entertaining.