ANINO SA LIKOD NG BUWAN: Sexy, Risky, and Timely

Manila, Philippines--Jun Robles Lana's “Anino sa Likod ng Buwan,” directed by Gawad Buhay awardee Tuxqx Rutaquio, is perhaps one of the most-awaited original Filipino straight play revivals that would come as strikingly sexy and risky but a timely production to open this year.

Its 2015 film version, which Lana directed, had the world in awe during its premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic and won major awards at the Pacific Meridien International Film Festival in Russia, including Best Director (for Lana), Best Actress (for LJ Reyes), and the FIPRESCI Critics Prize and NETPAC Awards. On the other hand, its return on stage will [definitely] create a stir in the local theater scene.

This 2025 stage version features three equally intense actors: Elora Españo, Ross Pesigan, and Martin del Rosario.

A Story with Too Much Sexual Tension

The play opens in an unnamed town ravaged by the armed conflict between the Philippine military and communist insurgents, where Emma and Nardo are living as refugee couple. Joel, a soldier, regularly sneaks food for the couple from the barracks and has been bonding with them through nightly visits for card games and mindless banter.

Emma, Joel, and Nardo are friends. The audience won't be ready for the shocking revelations about the secrets and stories of the three characters along the way.

At first glance, the dynamics of their bond seemed deep. As a lunar eclipse is about to occur, the three engage again in another game of cards, which leads to a tension-filled conversation about politics and friendship, love and lust, trust and betrayal.

(L-R) Martin del Rosario, Elora Espano, and Ross Pesigan

They are having a forbidden affair behind Nardo's back. For viewers, the intense, sexy scenes that probably aren't seen as usual in local straight plays may shock or excite them.

As the need arises, Españo and del Rosario provide upbeat sex scenes all over the place. Both are daring enough to depict such intense sex scenes. The two don’t have qualms about bearing their behinds and a quick exposure of delicate parts. Rutaqio paints well-choreographed sex scenes, treating the audience to how its film version showed film actors Reyes and Luis (now Adrian) Alandy had it in 2015.

Amid the sex scenes, conversations between Españo and del Rosario will allow viewers to peek into what they are up to and what’s going on in their minds.

A Risky Theme to Tackle?

The material isn't for the young crowd, but certainly, it drives a strong point, especially between the relationship between Españo and del Rosario's characters.

Lana was only 19 when he wrote this piece in 1993. However, one could speculate how he imagined things that made his craft such a piece–reflecting the effects of armed conflicts in Marag Valley in the early '90s as a backdrop.

Such effects are “alarming,” like those thousands caught in those conflicts.

Though sensitive as a topic, the three actors show their brilliance in their scenes.

Martin del Rosario plays Joel.

Del Rosario proves he's an actor through and through in his professional stage debut. If needed in the scenes, he has no inhibitions to strip off his clothes. The more experienced theater actors, Españo and Pesigan, won’t allow themselves to be left out and match the potency of their co-actor’s performance.

Risky as a theme for the actors to engage in a highly explosive interaction between three scheming characters, they succeed in many ways. They still bring out what the playwright wanted to deliver--the horrors of wars on people and how people tend to lose their sanity to survive their situation.

It complicates the web of emotions and motivations between the three. Emma, Joel, and Nardo possess Españo, del Rosario, and Pesigan.

Memorable lines from the three characters are hints of what their motives are. One line  drops a certain suspicion over Emma's persona when she mentions Joel “awakening the monster within her.” In the latter part, Joel's intuition as a soldier on things shakes the couple. Nardo's confession is quite a revelation.

It’s Still a Timely Play

Civilians, rebels, and soldiers in the middle of these conflicts develop the typical psychological profile of trauma.

Lana's play is timely even to this day.

Sadly, the conflict he describes in his piece may have been in the ‘90s, but it still haunts people globally. The three characters, Emma, Joel, and Nardo, reflect around 70 million people who fled from conflicts and were displaced in mid-2024.

(L-R) Elora Espano and Martin del Rosario

Rutaquio, as a director and a set designer, highlights scenes inspired by the film with much faithfulness, which dramatically transports those who have seen or even those who haven't seen the movie to experience the same level of cinematic appeal on stage.

Watching the play isn't about the love triangle but war's lingering and maddening effects. It will also allow the audience to understand the ordeals and the traumas of people trapped in war zones.

Lana masterfully crafts a story that Sun Tzu described in “The Art of War,” “All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we can attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”

This TheIdeaFirst Live’s maiden offering, “Anino sa Likod ng Buwan, originally a one-act play, won first prize in the Bulwagang Gantimpala Playwriting Contest.

The set pieces, designed by Rutaquio, condition the audience's minds on what a war zone is and what it is to live in a tension-filled day-to-day setting.

From its bare-bones set design to a full-blown one, the stylized enormous tree at the PETA Theater Center could very well depict the “force” that watches over or controls the fate of the three characters amid a war-torn scenario--it gives out that eerie feeling of being cursed.

At certain performances, Edward Benosa, Denise Esteban, and Vincent Pajara play Joel, Emma, and Nardo, respectively.

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