Looking into the Sounds of "A Game of Trolls"
Theater serves as a means for people to depict cultural and historical lifestyles through role-playing, being a performance art that educates as well as entertains. The Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) has been going around the country to educate students about the reality of Martial Law with the showcasing of their play A Game of Trolls (GOT). The play is an accessible and engaging musical that appeals to the millennial generation, with many pop culture references and a nearly realistic setting emulating the current state of the country. Maribel Legarda, director and writer of PETA’s smash hit Rak of Aegis, is the same director responsible for GOT. The original showing dates were from the 2nd to the 29th of September, 2017, but PETA decided to do campus tours that included a show at the Ateneo de Manila University on February 21, 2018.
GOT is about an internet troll named Hector, whose job is to spread fake news and heckle netizens with other internet "keyboard warriors” who speak out against martial law. This attitude is revealed to stem from abandonment issues he has with his mother, who opposed martial law back in her day. His apathy is slowly reduced with his recurring dreams about various victims of the crimes of the martial law era who died from torture and corruption. His outlook changes completely when he sees the effects of his internet-based jeering operations on the people he cares about.
Myke Salomon plays the role of Hector and executes his role perfectly on stage. Compared to all other actors of the cast, his voice and expression seem the most organic. He sincerely wants to educate millennials on the atrocities of the martial law era. Other amazing actors clearly immersed themselves in their respective roles to bring out the characters’ true motives. Vince Lim portrayed Bimbam, one of the major antagonists, and Upeng Galang-Fernandez acted as Nanay Tere, Hector’s mother.
Vincent de Jesus, composer of GOT’s musical score, is a veteran member of PETA who joined the company in 1985. His 35-year-long experience in the industry is proof of his ability to produce memorable scores in theatre, television, and film. Some of the awards he obtained through the years include Gawad Urian, Luna Awards, Star Awards, Philstar Gawad Buhay Awards, and the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award. A couple of his most notable scores are from the plays Batang Rizal and Si Juan Tamad, ang Diyablo at ang Limang Milyong Boto.
Music is one of the most crucial elements of theater as it adds another layer of atmosphere and expression for the characters to relay the themes of the play. De Jesus utilized this element well, using pop and rap to match the modern context of the play. The audio direction in the play itself was fantastic, with intricate sound effects and arrangements utilized throughout the play. The sounds complemented the atmosphere of the different settings with each scene—take, for example, the spacey, robotic glitch noises decorating the scenes where the trolls were at work or the emotional quasi-opera instrumentation in Hector’s dream scenes where he encountered the ghosts of martial law era victims. One notable piece was that of Nanay Tere where she sings to Hector, sharing her experience during the martial law era. The instrumentation was emotional and dark, flowing well with the subject of the lyrics.
Other notable moments in the play were the references to current popular culture. Considering that the main target market of this play consists of millennials, it is apparent that they put in the effort to arouse more interest from the young audience. One such way they did this was through the use of “budots” music and its accompanying dance. Budots is a comical style of electronic music popular with the masses. Another popular reference made was the use of the song “Hayaan Mo Sila” by hip hop group Ex Battalion during the rap battle scene. Like the budots music, the song was also considered humorous, some thought it to be a new and original sound that didn’t usually emerge in mass media. Although these techniques age fairly quickly on stage, the references made GOT much more engaging.
Although there were many great moments during the show, it was not perfect. The Ateneo showing had a number of technical problems that could have been avoided. There were times when the characters had their microphones off as they were about to recite their lines, causing some of the dialogue to be messily executed. Had more care been put into the sound check, microphone problems could have been minimized. However, audio mixing was the major problem of the production. In almost all the songs, the singer’s soft vocals caused the sung verses to be muffled by the overpowering instrumentation. Nonetheless, the cast members were able to give wonderful performances amidst the subpar technical management. While the technical difficulties may not have occurred in all their shows, proper preparation in view of these mishaps remains important in future showings in other venues.
The play was an excellent avenue to show the atrocities committed during the martial law era while still remaining accessible to younger audiences. In spite of its imperfections, the play’s message was clear and very much capable of starting relevant political conversations amongst the millennial generation.
References:
"Philippine Educational Theater Association - About." Peta. Accessed February 28, 2018. https://petatheater.com/about.
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Hawson, Fred. "Theater review: PETA targets millennial apathy in A Game of Trolls." ABS-CBN News. April 01, 2017. Accessed February 28, 2018. http://news.abs-cbn.com/life/04/02/17/theater-review-peta-targets-millennial-apathy-in-a-game-of-trolls.
INQUIRER.net. "Top-notch composer-actor Vincent de Jesus in Triple Threats: The Composers at CCP." Inquirer Lifestyle. Accessed February 28, 2018. http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/206316/vincent-de-jesus-in-triple-threats-the-composers-at-ccp/.
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