REVIEW: It’s a bloody bond in ‘Gruesome Playground Injuries’

REVIEW: It’s a bloody bond in ‘Gruesome Playground Injuries’

Fabregas brings sharp wit and precise comic timing to Doug, masterfully mining the script’s dark humor while Maramara’s Kayleen offers a grounded emotional core to the production.

 

Rajiv Joseph’s “Gruesome Playground Injuries” unfolds as a compelling meditation on trauma, friendship, and the peculiar ways people find connection through shared pain. Director Nelsito Gomez’s production is both intellectually stimulating and at times visually arresting, though it occasionally grapples with the script’s inherent imbalances in its exploration of two lives bound mostly by injury and occasional yearning.

Anatomy of pain

The play traces the non-linear journey of Doug and Kayleen over thirty years, beginning with their first meeting in an elementary school nurse’s office – she with a stomach ache, he having attempted a running dive off the school roof. Their subsequent encounters are marked by various injuries and emotional wounds, creating a patchwork of shared trauma that audiences can see plain as day on their bodies. This nonlinear structure allows the story to jump between pivotal moments of physical and emotional damage, revealing their deep and complex bond.

Gomez’s staging immediately establishes intimacy through having the actors strip down and dress themselves in front of the audience as they transition between ages and scenes. This ritual serves the piece’s themes remarkably well. The approach transforms what could have been mere scene transitions into integral moments that underscore exposure and vulnerability, aiding Joseph’s text that doesn’t dive too deeply into who these people are and why physical pain seem to be their common denominator. 

Much as Topper Fabregas and Missy Maramara will try, the connection one may build with these two are through the shock of their increasing injuries.

Gruesome twosome

Fabregas brings sharp wit and precise comic timing to Doug, masterfully mining the script’s dark humor. His portrayal of the seemingly pointless daredevil antics manages to keep the character engaging, even as the script struggles to provide deeper motivation for his self-destructive behavior. Fabregas excels particularly in his straight witty banter delivery, finding humor in unexpected moments of pain.

Maramara’s Kayleen offers a grounded emotional core to the production. Her character’s struggles feel more rooted in reality, and Maramara handles this weight with nuanced conviction. As the more reactive of the pair, she brings depth to a character who often receives rather than initiates action.

The undercurrent of an unfulfilled love story runs throughout the piece, but it’s in the portrayal of their unquestionable friendship – despite only meeting every few years – where Fabregas and Maramara’s performances truly shine. Their chemistry as best friends, proves more convincing than any romantic undertones.

Sparse playground

The characters ‘playground’ is sparse. Loy Arcenas’ set design of interlocking wooden benches arranged almost like a playpen flanked with packing boxes that contain the two’s costumes work as a metaphor for the small world Doug and Kayleen seem to inhabit when they’re in each other’s orbit. 

Carlos Siongco’s special effects makeup design show that less is more when it comes to giving audiences a realistic visual of increasing physical injuries. One scene involving a box cutter and fake blood (and the fantastically tense performances of Fabregas and Maramara) might even leave one wondering if the cut might’ve been real.

Trauma bonding

While Gomez’s production succeeds in creating a compelling piece of theater, the script itself presents some structural challenges. The disparity between Doug’s self-inflicted injuries and Kayleen’s deeper trauma creates an uneven foundation for their supposed trauma bonding. Doug’s reckless behavior, reminiscent of Jackass-style stunts, often feels superficial compared to Kayleen’s more profound struggles with mental health and personal demons.

Despite all this, what is unique about Gruesome Playground Injuries is that the gore (not excessive), the blood (at time excessive), and the injuries are what creates the intimacy not just between the characters but between the show and its audience and if you’re on the lookout for something new, that is certainly something new.

 

Tickets: P1200
Show Dates: Nov 22–Dec 1 2024
Venue: The Mirror Studios, Makati
Running Time: approximately 1 hour and 30 mins (no intermission)
Creatives: Rajiv Joseph (playwright), Nelsito Gomez (director), Loy Arcenas (set design), Paul Adrian Martinez (costume design), Miyo Sta. Maria (Lighting Design), Carlos Siongco (Special Effects Makeup Design), Zoë de Ocampo (Graphic Design),  Juri Ito (Intimacy Coordination)
Cast: Topper Fabregas, Missy Maramara
Company: CAST PH