In its 48th year, Teatro Tomasino, the University-wide theater guild, is staging a twinbill production on contractualization and dehumanization that its directors say leans into the absurd.
“Kontrata Kontra Tao” features Palanca-winning “Joe Cool: Aplikante” by Joshua Lim So, and “Absurdo: Event Day,” a play first performed in The Virgin Labfest 2022, by B.J. Crisostomo.
“Joe Cool: Aplikante,” the winner of Dulang May Isang Yugto at the 62nd Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, follows Joe Cool and his unexpected job application process.
“And to think na nasa early 2010s pa ‘yung piece … the text itself, relevant pa rin naman siya, pero the creative process and the artistic process of [Teatro Tomasino in making ‘Joe Cool: Aplikante’] more reachable to the masses is something to look forward to sa staging namin na ito,” director Angel Ocampo said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
Ocampo, a fourth-year literature student, said “Joe Cool: Aplikante” echoes a universal experience among jobhunters and members of the workforce.
“What makes it more relevant today is tayo as audiences, or as students na malapit na mag-trabaho, mas nakikita na natin ‘yung realities ng future natin if we stay stagnant sa realities na meron tayo ngayon.”
“Absurdo: Event Day” follows two project coordinators who continue to work during the imminent end of the world.
Director Marga Alfar, a second-year communication student, views the play as a reflection of the chaos and confusion experienced by the working class amid burnout.
“Pinapakita [sa ‘Absurdo: Event Day’] kung paano nagpapatuloy ‘yung mga tao sa pag-sunod ng routines and rules, na kahit alam naman nila sa sarili nila na hindi na siya nag-make sense, ginagawa pa rin – which mirrors the frustrations of living in a world na puno ng red tape, inefficiency, and burnout,” she said.
Despite the differences in the context, both plays tackle bureaucracy and capitalist power.
“We would love for the audience to realize that these issues are what the everyday working class is experiencing,” Teatro artistic director Ingrid Joyce told the Varsitarian.
Joyce, an English language studies graduate and the guild’s former artistic director, said bureaucracy is a pervasive presence that students also tend to experience, even if it is fleeting.
“[Bureaucracy] is something that you will experience. You have no choice until the day that you become part of the working class,” she said.
The twinbill production incorporates Brechtian theater, a production style that pushes the audience to reflect critically on what they are seeing on stage.
“Kaya siya [ganoon] ka-absurd kasi we are pushing for the elaborate, exaggerated broken system that is masked by bureaucracy with something supposedly systematic, pero underneath it all, it’s all just the absurdity of being overworked and underpaid,” Joyce stated.
“Kontrata Kontra Tao” will run from Nov. 22 to Nov. 25 at the Benavides Auditorium.
