Jerico Art Cantolino April 25, 2016

Lit 127.2 – C Prof. Lizada

"What statement on history and cultural memory is the play making? How does the
production design (set, music, choice of actors who play multiple roles) illustrate
this?"

Tanghalang Ateneo’s Kalantiaw tries to make a stand that despite the

incompleteness and inaccuracies that riddle the fabric of the Filipino history, all that
matters in history, identity and the future of the Filipinos is the present. The play also
talks about the mistake of historical revision (with the intention create a future of a
greater Filipino) in response to the Filipino narrative documented and bastardized by
our conquerors. The play’s main points will be discussed together with its
manifestations found in the story and in the significance of the production design in
terms of its actors, set, lighting, symbols and other significant aspects of the
production.
The play starts with the dilemma of every historian: how to recreate the
nation’s past that is troubled with the inaccuracies and bias of the dominant authors of
dogmatic texts, the colonizers. With this problem, the old historian gives up until
various voices of Filipinos from different eras and a lady covered in crumpled paper
(Lady History shall be the substitute name) cry for justice in their inability to have the
voice in the great narrative of Philippine history. The first important point is raised
with the idea that only those who are victorious or those who have conquered have the
power to narrate and dictate history. In order to solve this, the old lead historian
produces three major discoveries, which he claims to be true (a tribal god’s horn in a
cave, documents from a siege in the Spanish era, and the story of Kalantiaw). The role
of the young historian trying to authenticate history serves as the foil that tries to seek
the truth behind the history as it is without the embellishments. It is later on revealed
that the glorious discoveries of the old historian were not true. The old man’s cause
was to create a voice for the forgotten and an identity for the present Filipino to live
on with a brighter future. The play concludes that historical revisionism is not a
solution to the tattered fabric of our history. Identity is not tied with the past but with
the present, as emphasized by Lady History). We do not claim what we were really
not to gain a sense of identity. It is what we do now that truly defines us.
The next part of the paper is on the significance of the production design.
There are four devices, which include the design and placement of lights, crumpled
and scattered papers, parchment walls and repeating actors. Lights are often used to
emphasize the presence of actors or the mood that are portrayed in scenes. In the play,
lights were also used as a symbol on how the process of reconstruction of history
entails various perspectives and which shed light in the stories of the past. This was
shown through the unconventional design (unreal and Inception the movie-like) and
placement of the lamps. The lamp design could suggest that bits of history that are
cryptic and unreal (historical revisions). The fact that some of the lamps do not have
light could point on historical claims that hold no truth (equating truth and light).
Lights are usually placed in front aside from the kind that illuminates the background
but in Kalantiaw, it was placed in front, center, back and the sides of the stage. This
cast several shadows especially on the historically voiceless representative Filipino
figures from the past. Several lights could mean enlightenment on the truth but the
different positions of light used in the play confuses where the light and shadows
should be. This could be representative to the different and contradicting claims of
historians. To cancel out the confusing lights in times of realization or important
points of the play, a bright light was used from both sides of the play that removes all
shadows/uncertainties/fallacies. Second, the use of scattered and crumpled papers
could represent the history of Philippines that is muddled with uncertainties, fallacies,
and biases. The heaps of paper were used as the place to find the truth, which we find
proofs that we fail to differentiate from what, is true or not. Next the dirty parchment
walls were used to illustrate the kind of problem on the country’s history. The dirt
reveals history’s parchment that is stained by the false pieces of history. The
translucence of the wall were also used as a projecting screen to reveal history (scene
where the teacher from the American era was narrating history) and extending the
vastness of the set where it can transform a historian’s room to that of a forest through
projected shadows of branches. Finally, the actors with multiple characters suggest
that no matter what era it may be, every Filipino shares the same narrative in history.
Also, notice how historians of the same actor but of different character of different
eras share a life problem and repeat it. Refer to the scene where the young historian of
different eras tries to authenticate history and realizes the fallacies. This shows the
repetitive nature of history and shared history of Filipinos.

Production Design
1. Light is placed everywhere
a. Distorted sources of light show the nature of the different angles in
history.
b. A place with different lights set shadows from different angles in such
a way that the shadows are dispersed and become a representation to
the disappearing and vague figures in history.
c. Light is placed in front and the back of the stage.
i. This shows that the play does not only want to show the
characters but also the shadows
d. Aside from the lamps, an intense white light is projected in times of
revelation or illumination during the discoveries of the young lead
historian
e. We are blinded from the past (something we cannot do about mostly)
and the future (a tragedy we can do something about by
acknowledging the present)
2. Scattered papers
a. History derives its complexity from the different narrators
i. False
ii. True
b. The crumpled state shows that we can hardly discern what is true from
fiction
c. Books that arise from these papers become the master narrative that
creates distinction, hierarchy and discrimination
3. Parchment walls
a. The dirty walls represent the kind of perennial problem of authenticity
and identity in history.
b. The parchment’s translucence contributes in creating spaces more than
in the apparent and immediately visible set.
 i. It shows a projection of history as seen in the part of the female
teacher
ii. Forest scene
4. Actors
a. The actors play several characters most especially amongst the
historian figures
i. This shows that no matter how the names and faces change,
historians are faced with the same perennial problems of
confirming the past