UNI-BASED REVIEW: DUP’s ‘Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan’

UNI-BASED REVIEW: DUP’s ‘Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan’

With many stories being the end result of a long process of untangling one’s tortured thoughts, it can be difficult to turn that very same process into a compelling story in itself. Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas’ (DUP) Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan finds its protagonist, Bulan (played by Sandino Martin), at a dead end—burnt out from his 20 years as an Overseas Filipino Worker in the Middle East and trying to rediscover his purpose to better serve his family and his homeland. These experiences familiar to millions of Filipinos and their loved ones don’t necessarily form the main narrative but act as a backdrop to Bulan’s long, internal journey through memory and across geographical boundaries. 

As earnest as this production is, and as much as it allows DUP’s members to showcase their impressive versatility in performance, the material is unfortunately too unwieldy to really get its emotions to stick. The show’s sincerity is unmistakable but it has difficulty translating its deeply personal, conflicting feelings into a more legible form. It’s the embodiment of a restless mind that still needs to be given some order.

Between past and present

To the production’s credit, its set (with scenic design by Aaron Misayah) seems to be designed to accommodate a whole range of ideas. The stage extends lengthwise from one end of the theater to the other, as a sort of pit with raised borders. On one side is a holding area from which actors and props are shuttled in, and on the other, the stage slopes up into a blank wall on which images are projected. A paneled ceiling also filters light (designed by Third Salamat) and lets even more items descend to the floor. This varied collection of props that appear throughout the show helps reflect the fullness of Bulan’s life, with effigies, puppets (designed by the artist Siglo), and a remote-controlled toy car animating the world in charming ways, in contrast to the general seriousness of this story.

The set is at its most effective when it’s able to visualize the notion of being torn between past and present. When director and playwright Arlo Deguzman places his characters along the stage—either looking back to the holding area where other actors may be seated in wait, or looking ahead to the screen displaying footage from significant political events of a given time period—Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan takes on a sense that Bulan is journeying through the timeline but feeling equally distant from who he was and who he hopes to be.

Overpowered voices

There’s plenty to look at when the ensemble surrounds Bulan and moves as one mass of people, or when several of them break off to sing, operate puppets, or run laps around the stage. Despite the protagonist’s feelings of isolation, there’s a vibrant community that exists just within his reach, that he always tends to distance himself from. However, much of these interactions are hampered by sound design that hasn’t yet figured out how to wrangle the acoustics of the roomy IBG-KAL Theater. Many voices are often faint, especially when multiple people are performing at once. At times, background chatter overpowers the main lines of dialogue that should be heard. 

It doesn’t help that Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan’s musical score begins to sound repetitive before long. The instruments have a muffled, canned quality to them; the melodies drag in ways that aren’t particularly interesting or stirring; and the lyrics are often overly literal, overstating the broad strokes of what the characters are thinking or doing. It’s difficult to see why certain scenes need to be performed as musical numbers when the songs don’t provide a significantly different expression of what we see on stage. Sandino Martin is capable as a musical lead—especially when Bulan loses his cool against his verbally abusive superiors, or when his heart softens upon returning home to his province—but there’s ultimately little he can do to elevate a clunky script.

From page to stage

The overall narrative of Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan is certainly worth telling: an OFW finding himself at the end of his rope with the mistreatment and alienation he endures, while understanding that he needs to maintain a distance from his homeland in order to be of better use. Such personal feelings can be hard to express in any capacity, but here much of the dialogue comes off as rambling and monotone. There’s little rhythm or momentum in the show’s direction that would allow these long, drawn-out scenes to build in emotion—resulting in several key family relationships coming off unintentionally awkward rather than lived-in.

Of particular importance to this story is that Bulan is also struggling to return to his practice of writing, as he agonizes over what he can create to honor his country. The events we see on stage are ostensibly meant to be nuggets of inspiration informing the character’s creative process in some way. But as he goes from high point to low point and back up again, his finding the motivation to keep going feels oddly lacking in catharsis. By the time the ensemble sings a final number about loving the Philippines, it can’t help but seem like a reduction of a much more complicated journey that the protagonist has gone through. There’s a lot that’s worth saying here; it just has difficulty crossing over from page to stage.

This reviewer watched the 2:30 PM, March 14 show.

 

Tickets: P550–1000
Show Dates: Mar 12 to 29 2026
Venue: IBG-KAL Theater, University of the Philippines – Diliman, Quezon City
Running Time: approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes (with a 10-minute intermission)
Company: Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas
Creatives: Arlo Deguzman (Playwright, Direction), Angel Dayao (Music Direction, Sound Design), Siglo (Puppetry Design), Jonas Gabriel Garcia (Dramaturgy), Kirby Dunnzell (Movement Collaborator), Dan Wesley (Associate Movement Collaborator), Aaron Misayah (Scenic Design), Third Salamat (Lighting Design)
Student Creatives: Neil Shane Alcain (Sound Design), Jisu Jang (Sound Design), Tilda Oreta (Costume Design), Jada Bartolome (Projection Design)
Cast: Sandino Martin, Tess Jamias, Fermin Villegas, Sheryll Ceasico, Marichu Belarmino, Jojo Cayabyab, Hazel Maranan, Domileo Espejo, Mitzie Lao
Student Cast: Kerr Allen, Angel Manansala, Raymond Aguilar, Julianne Quimio, Ralph Onrubia, Janae delos Santos, Cy Guerrero