REVIEW: “Dedma” twin bill features class acts

REVIEW: “Dedma” twin bill features class acts

Theater Titas’ twin bill presents two one-acts written by Chesie Galvez-Cariño that examine class dynamics within complex relationships with a light touch.

Let’s Do Lunch

Directed by Maribel Legarda, this mostly two-hander is about a pair of good friends who operate in uber-wealthy circles. It begins, hilariously, charmingly–if unnecessarily–with Bebang, (Ash Nicanor) a household helper with a penchant for magic. We’re treated to a few minutes of crowd-pleasing sleight of hand magic tricks that largely cues for the audience to simply sit back and enjoy themselves. Theatre Titas’ metier is in such sort of lighthearted fare shows that give you a good time–if it incidentally arrives at bigger themes, then what luck.

Let’s Do Lunch is a slice of life story set in some lush Dasma home. Issa (Issa Litton) arrives–chic simply because it’s impossible for Ms. Litton to visually be anything else–visiting a close friend Val (Naths Everett) who is clad in tight athleisure that is the uniform of suburban ‘yummy mummies’ as though she’s in between pilates lessons. Val is more than a little out of touch, but this is the point. She is of the multi-millionaire spouse ilk. Issa seems to be part of the same fold until we realize that she has experienced quite a fall from grace.

 

Issa is not just there for a catch-up, but to sell insurance: treated with some embarrassment by Val who is trying to fend off her friend’s attempts to acquire her as a client. As the conversation devolves and unravels, we learn that Issa’s husband was embroiled in some sort of finance fraud. Issa has slowly but surely lost the accouterments that made her a ‘Dasma girl’. Everett is in her element, never unlikeable despite the out-of-touch Val she’s portraying. She is hilarious yet restrained enough to carve some nuance into a character that would have been easy to caricature. 

Litton’s performance falls a bit short of a nuance the role seems to require. This slight misalignment prevents her from fully embodying the layered pride and vulnerability that Galvez-Cariño’s text seems to call for, making her character’s rejections of help come across as mere ungratefulness rather than the complex emotional struggle intended.

Still, the sparring match between the pair is swift and interesting, though not so much incisive as a commentary on class until the very end when Issa, who had shown outward pride against her old rich friend, expresses latent humility that reveals the one-act’s deeper and more ambitious theme.

The Foxtrot

The second offering, initially staged at the Virgin Labfest in 2024 (written by Galvez-Cariño and directed by Paul Alexander Morales), examines a different but no less complex dynamic between Diego (JC Santos), a ballroom dance instructor, and Anna (Jackie Lou Blanco), an older woman that is Diego’s wealthy dance partner and student. 

From the off, Diego and Anna have rapport. They are close. Their conversation is mostly banter, and Santos and Blanco’s chemistry does do the heavy lifting for the storytelling. There’s a delicious, unspoken undercurrent happening between them. It’s mildly taboo, but here it is gorgeously played as tension and friction. Morales and Galvez-Cariño aren’t here to pass judgment on age, or that both characters are in relationships with other people. This one is more about feelings–explored, teased, acted upon emotionally and more crucially physically but through dance.

What sets this one-act apart from romantic two-handers, is the use of dance as storytelling. These two are not the sort of pristine ballroom acts you might see in Dancing with the Stars. There’s obviously rawness to them that only adds to the realness and lived-in quality of their relationship with each other. They’re flirty, and mask deeper feelings under banter, they’re largely in denial that the way they relate to each other are that of close platonic friends. Santos does great work here: lothario-coded but quite the smitten romantic. Blanco is not just a lonely married rich woman of a certain age having a flirtation with the young instructor. There’s warm friendship here which makes the push and pull even more compelling.

The class difference is less apparent, but not entirely absent. She’s the old rich housewife, he’s the young middle class instructor. They don’t have delusions that they may one day upend their lives to live happily ever after, but when they dance–gorgeously raw and compellingly choreographed by Morales himself–to the tune of rockband Dilaw’s “Uhaw”, you are similarly thirsty for them to get their happily ever after.

 

Tickets: PHP 1000
Show Dates: March 29 – April 13, 2025
Venue: The Mirror Theatre Studio, Makati
Running Time: approx. 1 hour and 30 mins (w/ 15 min intermission)
Company: Theatre Titas
Creatives: Chesie Galvez-Cariño (playwright), Maribel Legarda (director: Let’s do Lunch), Paul Alexander Morales (director and co-choreographer: The Foxtrot), Carlos Siongco (set designer), Lowell Louie Basa Tan (co-choreographer), Angel Dayao (composer and sound designer), Lyle Croncano (lights and sounds manager), Irene Romero (technical director)
Cast: Let’s do Lunch – Naths Everett (Val), Issa Litton (Issa), Ash Nicanor (Bebang); The Foxtrot – JC Santos (Diego), Jackie Lou Blanco (Anna)