To conclude its 40th season, Dulaang UP stages The Dressing Room:

That Which Flows Away Ultimately Becomes Nostalgia, a post-war Japanese

play by Shimizu Kunio. The show was performed with an all-female cast in
English and with an all-male ensemble in Filipino. The English version was
written by Chiori Miyagawa while the Filipino translation is by Nicolas Pichay.
The production is under the direction of Alexander Cortez.
The whole play was literally set in the dressing room, where actors and
actresses prepare and wait for their turn on stage. However, in this case, the
thespians eternally wait for their chance. The tale revolves on four actresses
who wanted to portray a coveted lead role.
The story starts with two old theater ghosts who were dressed in
Japanese robes and faces covered with white makeup. They pass their time
by pulling pranks on the living actors and exchanging famous lines from
Shakespearean and Chekhovian plays. Then, a middle-aged woman comes in
who is rehearsing her lines for the lead role of Nina. Later, a sickly young
lady enters who tells the woman that she wants her role back. The two
actresses fight for the role and eventually the young girl dies. She then joins
the old ghosts and they endlessly wait for their shot to be seen on stage.
Personally, I think the play shows the struggles and frustrations of
theater actors. We see their real stories behind the stage, the dressing room.
We see their longing to portray a major role or simply just any role that had
lines and didnt just stand on the sides, their dream to be seen and be known
on stage.
For me, I really liked how the story ended in full-circle. A new day starts
and the ghosts come in again and repeat their routine. It reveals that they
will never have their chance on the spotlight. They were forever stuck on
putting makeup and throwing notable lines of characters that they wish but
will never get to portray.
I also commend the actresses especially the two who played the
ghosts. They were entertainingly funny but you could also feel their
frustrations in their acting careers. I also really like the set design. It came of
like a three-dimensional set and was truly spectacular. Overall, the play had
an ethereal feel and was hauntingly beautiful.
All in all, I can say that the play was great. I believe that theater
enthusiasts will really love and relate to it. I think The Dressing Room, a story

about the theater, is a wonderful play to end the current season of Dulaang
UP.