A Workshop
Directed by Jesca Prudencio
University of the Philippines, Diliman
Written in 1838, the poem Florante at Laura is an eponymous 19th-century epic poem in Tagalog verse by celebrated Filipino writer Francisco Baltazar. The poem is a version of Romeo & Juliet, with its tale of forbidden love set in an fantastical Philippine history, where the Philippines’ historical religious war between its Catholic and Muslim kingdoms reaches all the way to ancient Greece. Jesca and People Of Interest are in the process of a devised theatrical deconstruction of this text.
In early March 2017, as part of Prudencio’s Taymor Fellowship, Florante & Laura enjoyed its first week-long development lab with undergraduates, grad students, and selected alumni at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. The lab studied the source poem and its verse structure, identified its dramatic arc, and made clear that the 18th-century poem’s conflict between Christianity and Islam is even more relevant today. The intensive culminated in a public presentation of devised physical theater pieces using Francisco Bataglas' poem Florante at Laura as the core text.
Here is an excerpt of the lab showing:
Directed by Jesca Prudencio
University of the Philippines, Diliman
Written in 1838, the poem Florante at Laura is an eponymous 19th-century epic poem in Tagalog verse by celebrated Filipino writer Francisco Baltazar. The poem is a version of Romeo & Juliet, with its tale of forbidden love set in an fantastical Philippine history, where the Philippines’ historical religious war between its Catholic and Muslim kingdoms reaches all the way to ancient Greece. Jesca and People Of Interest are in the process of a devised theatrical deconstruction of this text.
In early March 2017, as part of Prudencio’s Taymor Fellowship, Florante & Laura enjoyed its first week-long development lab with undergraduates, grad students, and selected alumni at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. The lab studied the source poem and its verse structure, identified its dramatic arc, and made clear that the 18th-century poem’s conflict between Christianity and Islam is even more relevant today. The intensive culminated in a public presentation of devised physical theater pieces using Francisco Bataglas' poem Florante at Laura as the core text.
Here is an excerpt of the lab showing:
