REVIEW: Blood is thicker than water ‘In the Eyes of the People’

REVIEW: Blood is thicker than water ‘In the Eyes of the People’

In the Eyes of the People, CAST PH’s latest production adapted and directed by Nelsito Gomez, reimagines Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People in modern-day Philippines. This adaptation drills deep into the moral and political complexities of privilege and the quiet, insidious ways familial power governs the lives of ordinary citizens. 

Though billed as a collision of science and politics, the play more accurately unfolds as a meditation on how the privileged can debate matters of life and death over dinner tables and live largely unscathed.

Preparations are underway for the grand opening of the Santa Cristina Hot Springs, a highly anticipated event poised to boost the town’s fortunes. At the helm are Mayor Peter Lopez (played by Ron Capinding) and his sister Tricia Lopez-Ramos (played by Jenny Jamora), the project’s Chief Scientist.

Just two weeks before the launch, Tricia discovers a dangerous bacteria contaminating the waters. What follows is a battle not just between truth and ambition, but between blood ties and public duty with the livelihoods of countless townsfolk–and possibly lives–hanging in the balance.

Past these two siblings with opposing views, In the Eyes of the People is clearest as a depiction of classed privilege. It’s not merely a story of reason vs. emotion, facts vs. emotion, truth vs. misinformation; it’s actually about the horrifying ease with which the truly privileged and powerful few in the Philippines could hold the fates of entire communities in their hands.

This adaptation raises sharp moral questions about the trickle-down impact of the decisions made by the few. This is what is most riveting on stage: how such people could debate on survival and public health, make decisions that cost actual human lives, and yet still end with familial bonds mended and remain personally materially untouched by any consequences.

Led by a magnetic return to acting by Jenny Jamora, she crafts a cerebral yet emotionally textured Tricia without tipping into a scientist stereotype. Ron Capinding is excellent as Mayor Peter, embodying the kind of affable, patriarchal Filipino politician whose humanity makes him even more unsettling. His character is instantly recognizable: the uncle or neighbor who is warm in private but likely divisive in public. 

The dynamic between the two siblings complicates the piece, forcing the audience to confront uncomfortable truths about how familial affection goes as far as even absolving the potential of public harm.

The rest of the ensemble also brings layers to the piece, with each character bringing their own morals and beliefs that are at odds with the rest of the family members: Nor Domingo’s Alvin Ramos is a good husband and father yet he is comfortable with the duplicity of his financial dealings. Jam Binay as the young journalist and progeny of the family is so iridescent with rage at injustices happening to townsfolk yet without personal disgust that its perpetrators are her own loved ones.

Katski Flores as the political opponent Ruby gives a striking performance as well in her handful of scenes where she is first herself persuasive with Tricia and later on, chilling at the end.

While the play is excellent in its complexity, it is not without its excesses. Chief among them is the public debate scene between Peter and Tricia. It beggared belief that the political and social structures inferred on stage would allow such a clean and fair debate to occur between a powerful incumbent and a lone female whistleblower, family or not. Billions of pesos were ostensibly at stake. The mayor, with access to money, media, and machinery would not need to engage formally to silence dissent. This directorial choice, while neat, oversimplifies the overwhelming asymmetry of power.

Perhaps the most jarring however is the parting message urging the audience to vote which clashes strongly with the play’s final scene clearly depicting systemic political futility.

Visayas is also mere setting here, with Gomez including minimal use of Waray more for texture than any real rooted Visayan code-switching. That these characters are Visayan natives are not culturally clear, either. One does not get the sense of rigorous specificity to the region with these characters. 

Sarah Facuri’s production design relies heavily on projections (by GA Fallarme) that situate scenes between homes, offices, provincial vistas, and news broadcasts. Many scenes involving the family are set around a dining table, reinforcing how the gravity of civic decisions gets flattened into private, domestic negotiation.

Sympathy, ultimately, belongs not to any member of the Lopez-Ramos clan but to the unseen townsfolk of Santa Cristina. Throughout the play, they are mere pawns living and dying at the whim of a powerful family more concerned with preserving reputations and relationships than with the material survival of the people they are responsible for.

We may be left with the notion that these characters had ultimately failed, but it is also just as clear that they have the freedom to leave the mess they have made of their hometown to thrive elsewhere with familial fondness still in tact.

At its best, In the Eyes of the People is a fascinating family drama. It is a study of how privilege insulates and perpetuates itself. It is more about the durable bonds of a privileged family than about truly interrogating the systems that empower them.

Still, this show imparts something arguably more unsettling: showing how, beneath all public calamity, the elite are left relatively unscathed. They, in fact, walk away richer. They may be a little more strained within their families, but still firmly in control. For audiences willing to read between the lines, it’s a portrait of a system that survives because those who uphold it love each other too much to ever tear it down.

 

Tickets: Php 1000
Show Dates: April 26, April 27, May 3, May 4
Venue: The Mirror Theatre Studio, 5th Floor, SJG Building, 8463 Kalayaan Ave, Makati, 1209 Metro Manila
Running Time: approx. 2 hours and 20 mins (w/ 20 min. intermission)
Company: CAST PH
Creatives: Nelsito Gomez (adaptor and director), Sarah Facuri (production designer), GA Fallarme (projection designer), Yabs (technical director), Rafa Sumilong (lighting designer), Carlos Hombrebueno (sound designer)
Cast: Jenny Jamora (Tricia Lopez-Ramos), Ron Capinding (Peter Lopez), Nor Domingo (Alvin Ramos), Jam Binay (Pauline Ramos), Zöe De Ocampo (Enzo Santiago), Katski Flores (Ruby Ganpon)