The word disturbing is the apt description for Perpetrators, a Dramatis Personae presentation for its 14th season last Sept. 28 and 29 at the Republic of Malate.
The play, translated from German (Täter) by Ella Wildridge, is a tragic farce on child sexual abuse. The story traces the psychological effects of sexual abuse on children and the reasons that drive parents into such assaults.
Perpetrators portrays helpless and pathetic victims and their futile efforts to save themselves from their monstrous parents who believe that they are their properties. It also shows a society that is indifferent, which imposes oppressive laws on the victims.
Act One opens with Paulo (Giovanni Respall), a thin, shabby, and nervous young boy dressed in a hospital gown who acts physically harassed and insane. He gives an incoherent narration of what happened to him. He says he is not living life, but just surviving it.
The story starts with Erwin (Clay Philips), the foreigner father of the young Petra (Angela Baesa), forcing her young daughter for “one more go.” The girl stubbornly refuses but the father succeeds in forcing himself on his helpless victim.
Another incident shows their neighbor Magda (Christine Paloma) having her son, Paulo, examined by a weird-looking doctor (Joanne Boyles). The diagnosis shows fungal infections, rashes, fissures, and lacerations in the anal area – which are all signs of abuse.
Magda doesn’t deny the accusation that she physically abused her son. In an ironical twist, the doctor turns out to be a lesbian who also abuses her daughter, Ina. Both women, apparently out of their minds, talk about their perversion and share a good laugh afterwards.
Fate and luck bring Paulo and Petra together at the train station. And because of their traumatic experience with their abusers, the two attempt to kill themselves by jumping on the tracks to be ran over by a train. But they abort the idea when they find out that the station has long been abandoned. Soon enough, they find consolation at each other’s predicaments.
On the other hand, ignorant Karin (Linda Lupton), Petra’s mother, makes a speech on how she discovers her husband’s incestuous relationship with Petra. Reason escapes her, when, in her speech, she blames her daughter for stealing her husband.
Act Two is a symbolic presentation of the victims’ search for justice. Paulo and Petra threaten to report the abusers, who remorselessly profess their hypocritical and malicious parental love and concern for their children.
A strange-looking lawyer, with blonde curls and clad in a black cape, appears. Apparently, he represents the apathetic society and judicial system. He tells the victims that their case is hopeless because of the hard and painful trial they need to undergo. They would have to recall every detail of their shameful experience and answer why they did not resist.
In the end, Paulo and Petra, thinking that there is no one to turn to, decide to put the law in their hands by plotting to kill their cruel parents by gas poisoning.
The language and scenes in the play would require maturity from the audience. One scene shows Erwin and Karl (Manuel Aquino), a pimp, masturbating with Karl’s baby daughter. This scene prompted one woman from the audience to walk out. Moreover, the director lectured the audience during the break that unfortunately, they were not there to entertain but to disturb and present the gravity of the situation.
The graphic display of abuses in the play is justified by the theater group as part of its crusade to help stop child abuse. An open forum followed after the performance when Aquino confessed that a priest sexually molested him when he was eight years old. It was only until he was 40 when he told his mother about it. But didn’t believe him.
The actor continued that he was hesitant to accept the part because of its obscenity. But he took it as a personal crusade to give voice to the sexually abused children, because most victims would rather not speak up.
In addition, Clay Philips sarcastically said that nobody would risk himself or herself to confront a child abuser. He then challenged the audience to do something about the problem.
An exaggerated attitude was pervasive among the character perpetrators–perverted reasoning, intimidating physique, and pretentious morals—thus effectively fulfilling the play’s aim of making the audience loathe them and their immorality.
The proximity of the stage to the audience added impact to the actors’ forceful words and actions.
The play exposed a decaying society where the least expected to commit crimes thrive. The play disturbed the see-no-evil and hear-no-evil attitude of people, in the hope of instilling social awareness and responsibility.
