REVIEW: ‘Yemaya’ is theater where imagination takes the lead

“Puti, bughaw, pula, ang kwento ko ay magsisimula na.”

As the lights go up, a boy named Mulo is standing in a sand pit in the middle of the Blackbox Theater. With these lines, he beckons us to enter a world of his imagining — where the lines between reality and fantasy blur. He stands amid the myriad of characters who will be part of his journey — not that we know it yet — setting the stage for magic and mystery to unfold. The question 9Works Theatrical’s Yemaya poses is — are you willing to go along for the ride?

Yemaya is a play where suspension of disbelief is less expected, but more mandatory. Director Ed Lacson dares you to fully get swept up in the ebb and flow of Mulo’s journey as a young boy whose dreams of a bigger world begin with his first taste of cold Coca-Cola. With the help of the goddess Yemaya and the feisty Maya, he seeks out his destiny in a distant land, despite the uncertainty ahead.

The choice of doing Yemaya as 9Works Theatrical’s first venture into straight plays is a brave one, as it borders on the esoteric. The source material, Yemaya’s Belly, is by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, who also wrote the book for the Lin-Manuel Miranda-led musical In The Heights. According to executive producer Santi Santamaria, Lacson was given free rein on the choice of show to mark his return to Philippine theater (his first since 2019’s Himala: Isang Musikal) – “For me, Yemaya is primarily a migration story. I could relate to it very much, as I think many Filipinos will.”

Lacson passed on the idea of an adaptation, working with Eljay Castro-Deldoc on translating the work into Filipino, to allow for the nuances and cultural references to stay true to the original text. “It’s tricky to transpose the key narrative points into a Filipino setting. Like taking a boat ride to reach the United States from the fictional island town is impossible coming from here,” explains Lacson. But as the play goes on, there is an excess of literary flourish in parts, making the translation feel overwritten and short on clarity – doing little to fill the gaps in the storytelling.

The intuitive and highly visual approach of Lacson’s staging more than compensates for that lack. He makes full use of the liberties afforded by Yemaya’s leanings towards magic realism to take the audience on a multi-sensorial experience. The set pieces are suspended high up over the stage, with each scene engaged in a game of theatrical smoke and mirrors. Akin to an animator drawing out spaces with the characters moving from one frame to the next as it happens. There is a lyricality to the movement, with each piece lowered from the rafters above as though caught in a dance, allowing you to cling to the dreamlike state in which he has elected the story to live within. Even the simple game of dice is a carefully choreographed ballet set against overlapping timelines.

Tommy Alejandrino, as Mulo, captures the innocence and wonder of a young boy on the brink of discovery. There is a brightness to his performance that adds levity to Yemaya’s darker themes of tragedy and loss. As Maya, Ness Roque delivers a grounded portrayal that is sparse yet moving in its simplicity. The sincerity in Alejandrino and Roque’s performances allows you to believe that their characters are pursuing their dreams and, perhaps, delusions, riding on nothing more than hope.

Yemaya also marks the return of the divine Bituin Escalante to the stage. As Inay, a mysterious voodoo woman, and the goddess Yemaya, she eschews flamboyance in favor of realism and mystery. Her voice amplifies the play’s dreamlike setting, floating ethereally in a languorous chant.

Inasmuch as this play is a manifestation of how far a creative vision can go, it also shows how excess downplays it. Mulo and Maya’s scenes on the boat, and his encounters with Lila (Sheenly Gener) in the store are introspective and thoughtful. The same can’t be said of Tico’s mournful lament of his wife Baldovina’s passing. Herbie Go is a force to watch, but the scene would have benefitted from a lighter directorial hand.

When Alejandrino’s Mulo says “Puti, bughaw, pula, ang kwento ko ay tapos na” as the stage fades to black, the audience is snapped out of Yemaya’s dream state. Lacson’s sensorial feast now charges us to ponder our own sense of wonder and if we’ve fully lost it living in such a jaded world. Or perhaps ask why simple joys like a cold bottle of Coca-Cola and Spam can become a springboard from which hope takes flight.

It’s a busy season for 9Works Theatrical, with On Your Feet: The Story Of Emilio and Gloria Estefan opening the week after Yemaya closes on 5 July. In the meantime, get swept away into this dream world, which also features Benedix Ramos and Sheena Belarmino as Mulo and Maya, at the Blackbox Theater, Proscenium, Rockwell. Shows are at 8 p.m. on Fridays and 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on weekends. Get your tickets via Ticket2Me.