Bravo PETA for staging "Haring Lear"

Opening scene, set designed by Gino Gonzales

Absolutely brilliant!  I'm glad I caught the last show of Philippine Educational Theater Association's (PETA) original tagalog production of Shakespeare's "King Lear".

PETA president CB Garrucho flanked
by Gino Gonzales and Nonon Padilla

The director Nonon Padilla followed the Shakespearean casting of all males with the female roles played by male actors. He said that he asked the actors - Nor Domingo (who played the eldest daughter Goneril), Gary Lim (Regan) and Abner Delina (Cordelia) - to shave their heads "to give it a strange post-nuclear feel to it. It's almost if everyone is suffering from radiation.. everyone is physically deteriorating."

The production's risqué  approach was deliberate. In an interview (RPN, Feb 7) , Padilla  said "we wanted to make it very strange. I wanted to emphasize that this is a tale about a King who splits up his kingdom and give away his properties to his children. And in so doing, instead of reaping the rewards of retirement.. he actually gets a comeuppance by his children who behaves crazier than he does."

The cast of Haring Lear:

Theater stalwart Teroy de Guzman gets drenched onstage