Philippine Theaters

RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
City of Pasig
College of Education
Major in English PCED-02-201P MODULES
SPEECH AND THEATER ARTS
7 TYPES OF THEATER IN THE PHILIPPINES

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this topic, the learners are expected to:
 To describe the types of theater in the Philippines
 To differentiate each types
 To distinguish the characteristics of eachtypes
INTRODUCTION
Long before the different forms of theater we enjoy today, like straight plays and
musicals largely influenced by the West, the Philippines has had many types of theater through
the years. It’s a rich performing arts tradition – from folk legends passed down through
generations to intellectual debates as performance art; from pagan practices to the deeply
religious celebrations influenced by years of colonization, here’s a look back through the colorful
history and evolution of theater in the Philippines.
Philippine epic poetry - is the

body of epic poetry in Philippine
literature. Filipino epic poetry is
considered to be the highest point
of development for Philippine folk
literature, encompassing narratives
that recount the adventures of
tribal heroes. These epics are
transmitted through oral tradition
using a select group of singers and
chanters.
A study revealed that the Philippine folk epics, like those found elsewhere in Asia, are
often about a quest for a wife as well as the various ordeals linked to the founding of a family,
hamlet, tribe or a kingdom. The narratives would include voyages - on earth, sea, sky, and the
underworld - to allow the hero or heroine to overcome the challenges faced. After the ordeal, the
protagonists - through an increase or improvement of his or her qualities, becomes the ideal man
or woman.
Epics are generally sung during folk festal and recreational gatherings such as weddings,
baptisms, wakes, prestige rites, peace agreements, and the like. They are sung primarily as
entertainment, to enjoy hearing of accounts of ancestors performing heroic deeds. The singing
also serves as an inspiration to the youth to emulate their heroes, and for would-be singers to
City of Pasig
become singers themselves.

Among some groups, such as
the Ifugao people, certain types
of Hudhud songs are prescribed for
certain occasions, such as during
the death of a prominent person, or
when ancestral bones are dug out to
be blessed, or during harvest.
The Hudhud hi Aliguyon is
a hudhud of the third type.
The Palawan Kudaman is
also sung on special occasions - as
an offering to the Lord of the chase
when they are able to catch a wild
boar, or to welcome a guest in their rurungan.
The epic singer could be male or female and learn their story from older relatives, or
from well-known singers in the community. The singing of epics usually takes place in the
evening and is dictated by the singer's preference; there is quieter in the evening and it allows for
deeper concentration on the singer, who sometimes sings for two to four hours as a time. Virgilio
Resma reports that Perena, a female singer, sang The Tale of Sandayo from 9 PM to 3 AM for
seven nights in 1980. Among the Ifugaos, the hudhud may sung during daytime as a harvest
song. Philippine folk epics are essentially the adventures of the hero and can be classified into
two groups: epics of romance, in which the main adventures consist in the hero's courting of
specific women, or in search of beautiful ladies he can marry; and epics in which the hero
undertakes adventures mainly in the service of his family, his country, his people, and for others.
Epics which prove the hero's valor and worth as a man also belong to the second group. These
two groups are not mutually exclusive, and epics that are predominantly romantic also contain
adventures of the other kind and vice-versa.
Primary examples of epics in the first group are Lam-Ang, the Ulalim, Labaw
Donggon, Bantugan, Lumalindaw, and Kudaman. Some of these epics, however, are not
exclusively of the first group. For example, Lam-Ang's first adventure was his quest for his
father who had gone to fight the Igorots and never came back. In the second group of epics,
examples include the Agyu cycle of epics, The Maiden of the Buhong Sky, Tulalang,
the Hudhud hi Aliguyon, the three Subanon epics, Ibalon, Tuwaang Attends a
Wedding, Maharadia Lawana, and Tudbulul.
Duplo - The duplo is an elaborate dramatic debate in verse, usually rhymed but unscanned, and
without fixed stanzaic pattern. Riddles of a political, social, or even mathematical character
called bugtong hold a large place in it. The players accuse one another of mythical crimes in
City of Pasig
highly puzzling terms and the accused defend themselves in terms just as puzzling. Quotations
(later usually from the awits) rain without cease. Wits clash and sparks fly about.
Those whom the Muses fail and are unable to read the riddles propounded to them are
either chastised with a stick or made to say a long, elaborate prayer for the deceased, a kind of
elegy called dalit. The duplo is a poetic debate presented through song and dance, which
originated from indigenous courtship customs. Poets used proverbs and riddles to present their
suit to the woman of their choice. This ultimately evolved into a more formal debate on issues,
and started to be called the balagtasan.
Moro – Moro – is a play that became popular in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial
period. It depicted battles between Christians and Moros – as Muslims in the Philippines are
popularly known with the Moros as the
perpetual villains who always lost to the
Christians in the end. Progressive historians
have viewed Moro – Moro as a tactic by the
Spanish colonizers to demonize Moros, the
largest ethnic groups that successfully warded
off attempts at conquering them.
The moro – moro plays helped fan the

flames of anti – moro sentiments among the
Christianized ethnic groups. The moro – moro
dance is the earliest form of theater performing
in the Philippines, starting in 1650. It is part of
their cultural routine when entertaining
City of Pasig
visitors. The dance is a play based off of two poems, the “awit” and the “corrido”, that spread
across the Philippines around 1610. It usually shows the struggle between Christians and non-
Christians. The Moro – Moro dance dance expresses the loves, deeds, and different adventures of
the kings, queens, princes, and princesses, that also includes different creatures like lion, tiger,
dragons, snakes, and many more.
The Moro – Moro is very long play, the show can go on for five to six hours a night for
three nights in a row. The longest play known lasted for 12 days. The actors wear flashy, bright –
colored clothing. The male Christians in the play wear pants with blue stripes while the Moros
wear pants with red stripes. The Christians wear sequins, beads, ribbons, and buttons. The king
wears long pants and his crown while the queen wears a white or light blue gown. All royalties
usually wear a cape that covers their back, and the female’s capes are usually longer than the
male’s capes.
For a time, one of the most popular types of theater in the Philippines was the Moros y
Cristianos, which is not surprising for a country that was under Spanish rule for 300 years.
Commonly called Moro - Moro, it is a street drama that usually lasted for several days, and
presented both secular themes like love and vengeance, and the Spanish-influenced religious
theme of the conflict between Christians and Moors. The Moro - Moro only survives in isolated
towns today, and though an integral part of Filipino art history, it may not bear too much close
scrutiny these days with its less than admirable depictions of intolerance.
Senakulo - Catholic devotees in the Philippines have been doing the Senakulo or Passion play
for several decades now every Lenten season. Here is the origin and history of this tradition.
Initially, the Passion play happened every Good Friday when Catholics were singing the Gospel.
Different persons sang different parts. During the 5th century, it evolved into a mature form. The
depiction of the Passion of Christ became more dramatic with elaborate props and well-rehearsed
action. That was also the time when it
was written in rhyme. The longest
running currently-performed Passion
play is the Oberammergau Passion
play, which has been performed since
1634, by the inhabitants of the village
of Oberammergau in Bavaria,
Germany. From that, the Passion
play was able to reach to Catholic
devotees from different parts of the
globe.
City of Pasig
In the Philippines, this tradition is called Senakulo which started back in 1904 in Barrio
Dayap, which is presently the area covering three barangays in Cainta—Sto. Domingo, Sto.
Nino, and Sta. Rosa. During that time, Filipinos set up cross on vacant lot for their belief that it
can drive away evil spirits. It was said that one day there was an unfamiliar yet powerful scent
was believed to have emanated from the cross. Since that moment, they promised to read the
Seven Last Words of Christ or the Pasyon every Lenten season.
As time gone by, the traditional
reading became more elaborated and the
celebration lasted for a week from the
Palm Sunday up to the Easter Sunday.
Senakulo has become a big event which
is participated by many devotees in Rizal.
Another performing art stemming from
religious custom is the senakulo or
Passion Play. This is the dramatization of
the life and death of Jesus Christ and is
usually presented as a community activity
during the Lenten season. This still
endures to the present, ranging from
simple productions to more technically
sophisticated and modernized versions.
Traditional Folk Dance - The history of Philippine folk dancing incorporates influences from
immigrants and conquerors while at the same time maintaining distinctly Filipino roots.
Philippine folk dancing is a true reflection of daily life in past centuries while enchanting modern
audiences at the same time.
Pre-Colonial
Before the recorded history of the

Philippines, before the Spanish
conquistadors conquered and Christianized
the populace, from the earliest occupation of
this volcanic archipelago, the people
City of Pasig
danced. They danced to appease the gods, to curry favor from powerful spirits, to celebrate a
hunt or harvest, to mimic the exotic life forms around them. They danced their stories and their
shamanic rituals, their rites of passage and their remembered legends and history.
Rural dances include such favorites as the high-stepping Tinikling, which mimics a bird,
and the Gaway-Gaway, which features the movements of children pulling the stalks of
the gaway roots during a bountiful harvest. The pagan tribes, the Higaonon, Subanon, Bagogo,
and others who have inhabited the Philippines
for thousands of years, preserved their customs
and symbolic dances. Partly through isolation,
they kept their culture free from the influence of
the waves of immigrants who settled the
archipelago over the centuries. Today, tribal
dances like Dugso (a dance of gratitude for a
good harvest or a male heir, danced with ankle
bells), Sohten(an all-male war dance)
and Lawin-Lawin(another male dance which
mimics a swooping, soaring eagle) are carefully
documented and kept alive in performance by
Filipino folk dance troupes and cultural
institutions, such as the Parangal Dance Company.
Muslim Merchants
Muslim traders from the Malay Archipelago reached the Philippines in the 14th century,
well ahead of the Europeans. Thier conversion of the populace was a modest affair; they were
more interested in commerce than colonization, although they did establish strongholds and
convert the local populace to Islam. They also created their own folk dances in the areas where
they settled. Singkil is one of the most famous. It depicts the plight of a princess caught in a
magical earthquake in a forest. Her faithful servant tries to shield her with a parasol as the
princess gracefully dodges falling trees, and is eventually saved by a prince.
Spanish Colonization
Folk dances survived the European
invasion, and the dancers adapted imposed
Christian belief and culture to their own dances,
borrowing court choreography but imbuing it with
Philippine spirit. The Maria Clara dances
merged Spanish court style (and its stylized
City of Pasig
courtship conventions) with Philippine exuberance. Maria Clara is the pure and noble heroine of
a novel who represents the finest qualities of Filipino womanhood. The dancers wear European
16th-century dress but move to the sounds of bamboo castanets.
Folkloric Fusion
The revered folk
dances from the lowlands and the
hill tribes persist in their traditional
form and in contemporary
choreography for Philippine ballet
companies. Dance is still the
theater of identity for the Filipino
people, a vibrant and cherished
way to tell their story forward with
all the rich history of their past.
Bodabill - Vaudeville/bodabil in the Philippines, more commonly referred to as bodabil, was a

popular genre of entertainment in the Philippines from the 1910s until the mid-1960s. For
decades, it competed with film, radio and television as the dominant form of Filipino mass
entertainment. It peaked in popularity during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines from
1941 to 1945. Many of the leading figures of Philippine film in the 20th century, such
as Dolphy, Nora Aunor, Leopoldo Salcedo and Rogelio de la Rosa, began their showbusiness
careers in bodabil.
Bodabil is an indigenized form of vaudeville, introduced in the Philippines around the
turn of the 20th century. It featured a hodgepodge of musical numbers, short-form comedy and
dramatic skits, and even magic acts, often staged inside the theaters of Manila. Bodabil proved
the vehicle for the popularization of
musical trends and musicians,
performance genres and performers.
At around the beginning of
the American occupation of the
Philippines at the turn of the 20th
century, stage entertainment in the
Philippines was dominated by the
Spanish-influenced komedya and
the newly emergent zarzuela (or
"sarswela"). In order to entertain
City of Pasig
American troops stationed in the Philippines, vaudeville acts from outside the Philippines were
brought in to provide entertainment. As early as 1901, a leading Manila theater, the Teatro
Zorilla, would promote some of these visiting vaudeville troupes as "Novelties in Manila".
During these early years of vaudeville in the Philippines, most of the featured entertainers
were non-Filipinos. By the middle of the 1910s, a few Filipino performers would begin to appear
in vaudeville acts as well. The zarzuela star Atang de la Rama was among the first of such
performers, as well as the singer Katy de la Cruz, who first appeared on Manila stages aged 7.
The routines they would perform were featured as intermission numbers in between sarswelas.
These intermission numbers were sometimes called "jamborees".
In 1920, a Filipino entertainer named Luis Borromeo returned from North America, who
performs under the stage name "Borromeo Lou", and organized what became the first Filipino
bodabil company. The main showcase of Borromeo Lou's company was an orchestral band,
which played what he called "Classical-Jazz Music", and variety acts in between. Borromeo's
band is credited as having popularized jazz in the Philippines. It was also Borromeo who dubbed
the emerging form as "vod-a-vil", which soon became popularly known by its Filipinized name,
bodabil.
In 1923, there were three theaters in Manila that were exclusively devoted to bodabil. By
1941, there were 40 theaters in Manila featuring bodabil shows. The popularity of bodabil was
not confined to Manila stages. Bodabil routines were also staged in town fiestas and
carnivals. The typical bodabil shows would feature a mixture of performances of
American ballads, torch songs and blues numbers; dance numbers featuring tap
dancers and chorus girls and jitterbug showcases; and even the occasional kundiman.
Within that period, established performers such as Katy de la Cruz and Borromeo Lou
continued to thrive. New stars also emerged, such as the singers Diana Toy and Miami Salvador;
City of Pasig
the dancer Bayani Casimiro, and the

magician
and Chaplin imitator Canuplin. Many
leading lights of Philippine cinema
began their entertainment careers in
bodabil during this period, such
as Rogelio de la Rosa, Leopoldo
Salcedo, Dely Atay-
Atayan and Chichay. Bodabil thrived
despite the emergence of Filipino
film productions. Many moviehouses
featured bodabil performances in
between screenings, and many film
and bodabil stars frequently crossed over from one genre to the other.
Sarswela - Sarsuwela is a form of theater unique to the Philippines, however, it wasn’t until the
Spanish colonization when Spanish performers introduced Zarzuelas to the nation and they
quickly made it their own. In addition to having roots in the Spanish genre, Filipinos also drew
inspiration from the local sainete. The sainete was a comedy skit that used music as an
intermission to the long comedies of the 19th century. Although the local sainete has impacted
sarsuwela’s, the Spanish zarzuelas are the real inspiration behind the Filipino art form. In 1869,
after the opening of the Suez canal that allowed the Spanish much easier access to the Philippine
Islands theater really began to take off. This meant that in addition to bringing more troupes, the
Spanish also sent over playwrights and acting groups to perform for the Spanish population
residing in the Philippines.
This inspired many Filipinos to begin writing their own form of zarzuelas. At first, they
were written and performed in Spanish, then Filipinos began to write them in Tagalog, but they
would still be performed in Spanish. Finally, as the theatrical form became popular among the
Filipino community, they started to perform in their national language. In 1901 American
colonization began and unlike the Spanish culture that did not attempt to assimilate the
population, American school teachers came over and introduced the Filipino education to the
English language. Teachers used American plays and movies to teach their students about
English and this inspired the works of future playwrights. The American Dream became the
quintessential plot of most plays being written in both English and Tagalog up until the 1960’s.
(Fernandez, 2000) Both periods of colonization have affected the Philippines and their
sarsuwela’s.
City of Pasig
Sarsuwela’s are usually written in colloquial prose containing anywhere between one and
five acts. Musical performances are woven into the acts, delivery an exciting story that ties the
acts together in an entertaining and dramatic form. The story often follows a Filipino character in
a love story while engaging several conflicts relating to social, political, economic or cultural
issues.(Tiongson, 2010).
These issues were often associated with the Spanish Period and the Filipino revolution.
The hero and/or heroine who were in love with one another, would join the revolution and fight
against the Spanish forces until the two Filipino lovers were reunited in a happy, exhilarating
finale. Each play depicted a glorious moment of pride for all Filipinos, becoming a symbol of
success and joy in the Philippines.
The sarsuwela is a type of
melodrama, usually in three acts,
that uses alternately spoken and sung
words. It was the Spanish influence
that started the sarsuwela, but it was
also this colonization that led
Filipinos to incorporate nationalistic
overtones in the art. This resulted in
the arrest of several prominent
writers such as Aurelio Tolentino
and Pascual Poblete, and eventually,
the shutdown
of sarsuwela companies during the
American occupation. As proof of its
City of Pasig
importance in Philippine culture, in 2011 the National Commission for Culture and the Arts
designated the sarsuwela as a nominee for the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage lists. The
plot of the Philippine Zarzuela is about Filipino life in both positive and negative aspects such as
family, politics, feasts, values, corruption of the government etc… With this plot, it appeals to
the Filipino audience effectively because they can relate to what is happening in the story. It also
imparts
Filipino values and culture to the audience where the lesson of pursuing the right thing is
emphasized to the Filipino audience as they watch the play.
The experience of watching the Philippine Zarzuela speaks to the Filipino audience in different
ways- it brings back memories, it entertains, and most of all it teaches a lesson. It allows the
audience to think and reflect about the happenings in the country and challenge them to pursue
Filipino values and eventually change the country into a better one. In my opinion, the Philippine
Zarzuela, though it originated from the Spaniards, is a genius way for the Filipinos to preserve
the Filipino culture and values by means of entertainment. it gathers families and friends, thereby
building strong bonds.
References
Crawfard, B. (n.d). Philippine Folk Dance History. Retrieve from
https://www.citationmachine.net/bibliographies/619807908?new=true
Gree, J. (2019). The origin and history of Senakulo or Passion Play in the Philippines.
Retrieve from https://philnews.ph/2019/04/17/senakulo-passion-play-philippines-origin-history/
Icky, J. (2017). Filipino Drama: A Sketch. Retrieve from
https://blog.palabas.org/manlapaz-drama/
Philippine Zarsuela. (2013). Retrieve from
https://thestageandthestudio.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/philippine-zarsuela/
Racine, H. (2018). The Indigenization and Transformation of Sarsuwla in the Philippines.
Retrieve from http://cducomb.colgate.domains/globaltheater/asia/the-indigenization-and-
transformation-of-sarsuwela-in-the-philippines/
Retrieve from https://www.slideshare.net/tedoi/moro-moro
Retrieve from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaudeville_in_the_Philippines

Philippine Theaters

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Philippine Theaters

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

7 TYPES OF THEATER IN THE PHILIPPINES

Philippine epic poetry - is the

become singers themselves.

The moro – moro plays helped fan the

Before the recorded history of the

Bodabill - Vaudeville/bodabil in the Philippines, more commonly referred to as bodabil, was a

the dancer Bayani Casimiro, and the

You might also like