The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-07-29
A NATIVE FILIPINO PLAY
The Performance Lasts Three Days
and Three Nights.
Close Attention Paid by an Audience
of n Thousand Persons The
Feature of the StaEe-AII the
Courts Busy and Prisons Crowded.

letter from San Isidro. in the Philip
/ ton of a native theatrical performance.
1t follows:
THAT Filipino audiences are in many
ways like those that support 'one night
| stands on the mainland of the United
| States is not difficult to believe when one
] has seen and heard a fair or market place
comedy such as we have viewed at San
/ Isidro during the week just ending.
! There was in evidence the same impa-
thence at delay the same little bushes of
deep interest. broken by ripples OF laugh
ter or by murmurs Of appreciation, as tell
! ing lines were delivered. The same cram
| ing of necks as hungry eyes followed the
| gorgeously costumed players, and then, as
a final bit of proof of similarity, there
came a burst of ieering laughter when
| trouserless boy of six, who had strayed
| away from father or older brother, APP
peared at the back of the improvised stage.
| The little fellow stood gasping helpleEsly
while hundred voices shouted what was
evidently Tagalo for that word SO dear to
| gallery gods at home. 'Supe! Supei'
We are in the provinces, and the open
! air theatre suffers sadly in comparison with
the gay Teatro Gorilla in Manila But the
| performance was free, and. moreover, tke
audience was with the players from the lie
ginning. For was it not the story OF
| Christian and Moor done into Tagalo from
the Spanish of last century by some lolal
| and native adapter? The Christian tri-
umphed after three days and nigats of con-
tlEuous dialogue, jest, and combat, ard tie
visitors from Gapan, Jaen or other nearby
pueblo have driven away satisfied dramati-
/ cally and inwardly by the offering of the
stallkeepers in the market place-Inade in
honor OF the patron saint of all givers OF
good bargasrs and full measure.
We went to the second instaIlment 1t
was the first night, but the play had been
begun at an early hour of the afternoon
Seats were provided for General Funston
and his staff, but the others of a thousand
spectators stood or squatted while they
CAPPED at the bewitching Christian maiden,
Mariana, o. admired the valiant prince who
slew whole armies or the inndei Moors with
a gilded bolo of wood.
Stage Setting and Pror,pfer,s Box.
Tall bamboos supported the elevated
stage Of split strips of the same material.
Lashed to the same uprights at a higher
level was roof Of mating and banana
I leaves. The light was furnished by a score
| OF tumbleTs of cocoanut oil hung in
fra tne and suspended from the roof-each
tumSler with one Of those curious floating
wicks Of pith A dingy and much frayed
drop, showing the Eternal City was at the
bacic for all the scenes of city, while
( background of green boughs placed YER
tically replaced the drop when the armies
fought or the court left the grand palaces
and went afeld. huge prompter's box
sheltered the author from our sight, but
did not shut out the steady sing-song of
his voice as he read line after line of the
! three days play. Heroes, princesses, and
| clowns stalked. posed or stood listening
while awaiting. not cues, but the actual
/ lines. At intervals the prompter beat upon
a little drum to give the tempo of march or
battle music. and then, as the orchestra
sawed vigorously. knights and infidels fought
valiantly. Oftentimes the Christian prin-
cess was engaged in the combat, and was
/ rightly equally often victorious. 1t may
be remarked that it did not please the
American soldier element OF the audience
to see the men players at combat with the
women Of the cast. and they took oc-
casfon to SO express themselves. After a
brief exposition in Spanish by the man
ager that the play called for such action
the affair proceeded. Since every word
had to be read to the players by the
promDter the play dragged iniseraDiy.
Even the conbats were not continuous but
consisted in part Of fantastic posings and
! Innings, while the bolos, or swords. were
t. rled and brandished.
'Acrobatic performances were introduced
and were crsditab,y performed. Nothing
can exceed the nimbleness of the Filipinos.
: Then, too they are the most supple jointed
beings imaginable. Young and old can sit
squarely upon their heels while working
or eating. Hence it follows that any aero
| battles that call only for on ability to twist
groSesquely or bend at astonishingly acute
and difficult angles are possible even with
the amateurs OF this race. I have never
grown accustomed to the sights that one
may see at any hour in the market places
or around the tiny booths where most of
| the business of these islands is carried on.
A woman comes shutting along on those
high-heeled wooden sandals that are made
Of sycamore wood brought all the way
from the United States. She, like all FIJI
ipinos, is unable to buy even cents worth
| of betel nuts or sugar without bargaining
| for five minutes, SO she steps out of her
wooden slippers, tucks her Tapping skirts
snugly around her person, and then sits
down on her shoes. Imagine a seat but
| two inches in height,
40 return TO the comedy as the mar,
ket play was universally called. Follow
ing its completion the whole town has
gwen ltstH over 10 the santa Cruz de
Mayo CHoly Cross of May) Night after
night hundreds Of children have marched
| through the streets with tapers and
| wreaths. Dressed in their simple best,
and guided by whole families OF their
| elders, the little ones have struggled and
! crowded along TO the music of that most
| faithful band. 1t is the same scene and
| the same music over and over again Each
night the procession passes our head
quarters, as it goes shrilling to new
rendezvous. Soon 1t halts before one of
the better houses, and then the children
crowd beneath two suspended frames,
from which hang gifts of mangoes, banan-
as or little packets of 'dulce, neatly
wrapped in the clean, green strips Of
banana leaf. Oftentimes near at hand has
been erected a long, slender bamboo,
thoroughly coated with cocoanut oil. and
bearing at its top some simple gift wrar-
ped in gay colored paper. This afforded
great amusement for the crowd of small
boys in the procession, who sought in
dustriously to pluck the gift from the
dizzy height, succeeding only at a sacri-
flee of their one garment-a shirt.
For half an hour after the arrival of
the crowd at the rendezvous the band
played lively airs. while anxious mothers
sought advantageous positions beneath the
gifts for their eager-eyed little ones. Then
the frames were quickly lowered and a
great scramble for the fruits and what
not followed. We have sought diligently
for IN explanation OF these ceremonies, but
TO no purpose.
% 1t is the Santa Cruz de Mayo. an oil
custom, senor.' That il is a religious cere-
mCnial is evident from the cross and tapers
that are carried but it seems TO be more
af