INTRODUCTION

Philippine drama journeyed from ritual to realism. In an all-inclusive picture, it

is an amalgam of various ethnic group cultures prior colonization of the Philippines,
and of major cultures by two western powers which conquered the country from
1521 to 1945.
In the early period of the Christian era, Spaniards marked the Filipinos as
pagans because of performed rituals such as deforming skulls, removing and
preserving them; worshipping the sun, moon, rivers and mountains; burying their
dead then disinterring them, reburying and even venerating their bones through
chants, songs and dances. Three hundred thirty-three years of Spanish colonization
gave that base an overlay of Euro-Hispanic culture, and commencing in 1899 US
colonial rule added another layer of Western culture ( Lumbera 2007 as cited in
Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History, New Day Publishers,
Quezon City 1984).
The Philippine-ness of a cultural form varies in degrees, depending whether it
fulfills one, two, or all items: it reflects Philippine culture; it answers the need of
Filipinos at a given time; and it works for the good of the Filipinos.
The roots of Philippine drama in this paper are discussed according to the
various historical periods that produced the different drama forms.

II. INDIGENOUS PERIOD

The indigenous culture of the various ethnic groups that had settled in the
different islands of the archipelago before Spain claimed them as its colony in 1565
forms the base of that traditional culture (Lumbera 2007), which produced the early
drama form of the Philippines. This was concurred by Nicanor Tionson when he said

that pre-colonial drama consists of the rituals, dance and customs of various tribes
that inhabited the Philippine archipelago (1998).
Original Philippine drama was indigenous, not the typical scripted, staged and
costumed known by the Spaniards. In Fernandezs book entitled Palabas: Essay on
Philippine Theatre, Wenceslao Retana contested Vicente Barrantes claim that
Tagalog theatre was Spanish theatre based and that there had been none of it
before Spanish contact (Barrantes 1890). The former said that the latters claim was
full of arguments and not of documents. This could be so since Barrante is a Spanish
who happened to be the first author to write about Philippine drama. Meanwhile,
Retana, a more careful scholar through his extensive research finally concluded that
there was no proof that the Tagalogs had any representation escenica before 1571,
the year of the founding of Manila ( Retana 1909). At present though when
Philippine drama is seen at the perspective of Manila, it may be well-thought-out as
a blend of Spanish and American cultures. This is dispelled however at the
countrysides viewpoint as traditional culture dominates over the colonizers
influences among the locals. Theatre in the native languages provides an excellent
entry into the dialectics of the indigenous and the colonial in the creative works of
Filipino artists ( Lumbera 2007).
Indigenous drama included the chanting epics, enacting rituals, and
celebrating victories through original songs, dances and mimetic actions.
The indigenous dances portrayed animal movements and tribal activities
such as gathering food or hunting animals. War dance, however, was considered the
most significant by many tribes because it displays the tribe warriors fighting skills
and prowess using different weapons in an imaginary battle. Meanwhile, song

performances featured mimetic customs associated with courtship, marriage, death,

or other critical occasions of tribal life.
Bical and Balac are two popular dramatic forms among Visayans. The former
features two opponents,of the same gender, exchanging verses that reveal the
other persons weaknesses; while the latter exposes a male courting a female
participant with the use of verses. As the male advances, the female rebuffs in
verses. The verses are often spoken with a musical instrument like Kudyapi for the
man, and kurlong for the woman.
All these, exactly different from the known dramas of the western world,
bear mimeses and mimicries of their routines, acts and deeds. Spaniards then,
who conquered Philippines in heart, mind, and soul, considered early Filipinos as
pagans and even obscene in their delivery of indigenous drama, which were mostly
intertwined in their daily activities.
The ritual practitioners in their dance-dramas used imitative dances to
propitiate the supernatural powers that were believed to control forces to regulate
the seasons and elements; to ensure the Earths fertility; and to grant the tribe
success in hunting and warfare ( Bautista 2006).
Characteristics of Philippine Rituals identified by Tiongson are as follows:
1. The central figure of rituals is the shaman ( catalonan or babaylan);
2. In most cases, the shaman is a woman or an effeminate man;
3. In these rituals, the shaman goes into a trance, as a spirit possesses him
or her;
4. Rituals require a sacrifice such as a live animal, which will be killed, or
sometimes, food; and
5. Rituals are done to bless a newborn child, pray for a bountiful harvest, and
predict future events like natural calamities.

III. THE SPANISH COLONIAL REGIME

The Spanish rule from 1521 to 1989 popularized various types of secular and
religious drama. Secular types were staged during town fiesta celebration while
religious types underscored significant Catholic liturgical feats or seasons.
Philippine drama in the Spanish era comes in three forms namely, sinakulo,
komedya and sarswela. The first two emerged as early dramas by playwrights
sometime between the 17th and 19th centuries, and were advanced through the
efforts of parish priests and native elites in Manila and provinces. Towards the end
of the Spanish rule, Sarswela was introduced and was enthused by another class of
people in the country known as intelligentsias. Among the three, this was
considered as the best reflection of the interests and self-image of the Filipinos after
the 1986 revolution.
Theatrical productions featured patron saints feast, commemoration of the
passion of Christ, celebration of the saints canonization; all these were initially
staged in the platform stage mounted in the church patio. The crux behind these
productions was proselytization. Stage presentations were intended for the natives
to become converts after they witness the solemn spectacles that enact dogmas
and doctrines of the Roman Catholics, and religious concepts embodied in the
practice of the new Faith, thus denounce the world of paganism. Indeed, one of the
developed literatures during this era was the Sinakulo, which until today is carried
out across the three major regions of the country during Holy Week, a narrative
poem in Tagalog called PASYON.
Of the secular dramas, the most important and popular was Komedya, which
was also known as moro-moro, linambay or curaldal, depicts the conflict between
Christians and Moorish kingdoms. A A special characteristic of the Komedya

includes its batallas or the lengthy choreographed fights between individuals or

armies. Komedya in its traditional form, on the other hand, exemplifies theme and
content which were effective in their colonizing intent. Many natives were hooked
on the literary wit behind Komedya as its plot include the divine right of kings and
vassals to keep enemies in subjugation, and the exploits of knights in battles waged
in the name of God and the King against the Moors.
As observed and witnessed by a Spanish chronicler, he wrote that Komedya
as performed in the Philippines has been indigenized and has evolved much from its
original form, the Spanish comedia. Still bearing its name al uso de la tierra, the
natives had persisted in their ways and came up with a theatre form well-loved by
the crowds who patronized Komedya both in Manila and in the provinces ( Lumbera
2007). Lumbrera further stated how Fray Martinez de Zuniga noted the succeeding
story as observed in one of the Komedyas staged in a provincial town in Batangas:
The dramas of the natives are made up from three or four
Spanish tragedies, parts of which are so interwoven as to form
what seems to be a single pieceEach one of these dramas has a
hero who is shown in the midst of many difficulties from which he
is delivered by an image of Christ or some other image or relic
given to him by his mother before she died. In these dramas, lions
and bears appear to him, highwaymen overcome him, and always
he comes out miraculously unharmed. The hero does not die
tragically, however, should one of the leading characters die in
this manner, the natives would regard the play as dullEach
drama has one or two clowns who make the people laugh with
jokes that would freeze the hottest water in this torrid zone.

( Status of the Philippines in 1800, Filipiniana Book Guild, Manila

1973)

The clowns are alluded to Judas role in the Sinakulo. Fray martinez de Zuniga
in his testimony further said that these clowns subverts the komedya as a colonial
form, for they break away from the narrative of the play to comment on the play
itself and the actors, and they poke fun at erring public officials present at the
performance. Called by various local names depending on the region from which the
text originates, the clown or locayo is once again the indigenous culture asserting
itself against the repressive structures of the cultures of the organizers.
At the turn of the 19th century, the zarzuela, a traditional Spanish one-act
comic opera wth satirical theme; and the vaudeville, a stage show consisting of
various acts such as singing, dancing and comedy, became famous and prominent
among Filipinos (Bautista 2006). The Philipinized sarswela painted in the mind of
the audience, popular life in the society. Filipino viewers, to avoid missing the stage
plays, travel eagerly from one area to the next within the province where the
sarswela was shown and performed during town fiestas.
Of the three forms, sarswela opened opportunities to the indigenous culture
to be of mainstream. This musical play was then considered as the friendliest to the
interests and aspirations of the emerging intellectuals. Unlike Sinakulo and
Komedya which required narratives from the Bible and the Spanish medieval
ballads, stories of life lived in the Philippine community were depicted in sarswela.
Natives then were able to earn their identity as a people who succeeded over
decades of struggles under colonization rule. Filipino sarswela, usually spiced up
with comic love, then featured stories of social ills such as gambling and

drunkenness, with the usual plot dealing with lovers of different socio-economic
levels that threatens their amorous relationship. Usually, this had three-acts
enthused with music and dancing interspersed within the prose dialogue. Stock
characters whose function as subverters of the status quo parallels that of Judas in
sinakulo and the clowns in komedya where the servants who served as confidants
and go-betweens of class divided lovers (Lumbera 1970).
In effect, sarswela piloted the break-away of theatrical productions from the
platform stage for an outdoor performance; sarswela representing Filipino drama
henceforth became an indoor performance where one gets to pay an admission fee
to watch the show. This also paved way for Philippine drama to be closer at par with
the theater of the West.
From among the three forms, only sarswela is musical but still Komedya and
Sinakulo have music in some essential parts of the production for special emphasis.
Entrance and exits of principal characters in Sinakulo, Mary and Joseph, were
accompanied by music. In Komedya, music for high-born characters are also played
during entrance and exit movements, exhibiting gaiety in royalty; for special effects,
music sets the tone in duels during grand battles, and knightly display of skills and
prowess.
Other Philippine religious dramatic forms, which come in various names, as
performed in the different parts of the country are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Tibag, the search of Helena and Constantine for the cross of Christ
Salubong, the meeting of the risen Christ and his grieving mother, Mary
Panunuluyan, the serch for the inn by Mary and Joseph
Moriones, depicts the story of Longinus, the Roman soldier who was

beheaded for believing Christs resurrection

5. Pastores and Tatlong Hari, the adoration of the Child Christ by the
shepherds and the three wise men
6. Osana, the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday

III. THE EARLY AMERICAN OCCUPATION

The indoor performance of Filipino drama, as represented by sarswela, began
to assume the look of a westernized indoor theatre. In the folds of time, this theatre
indeed was to become in the 1930s and the 1940s a purveyor of western plays
when it learned to speak the language of the new colonial power in the college
campuses of the capital city where movies and vaudeville would eventually drive
them ( Lumbera 2007 ).
Sarswela was most popular during the first or three decades of the American
regime. Meanwhile, the revolutionary plays of the turn of the century were marked
seditious by the Americans because they were perceived as anti-Americans and
exhorted Filipinos to fight against them. As more Filipinos embraced the American
rule, however, romantic drama reigned for the next decades while the evolutionary
plays slowly dissipated.

IV. THE LATER AMERICAN PERIOD

In 1921, Luis Borromeo came back from las Vegas, and started his own fullfledged bodabil, the local version of the vaudeville ( Tiongson 1998).

The stage

show that we know today in the country started during the Japanese occupation
when the bodabil appended the romantic drama as one if its highlights.
Tiongzon ( 1998) describes stage show as a potpourri of songs, dances,
comedy skits, and romantic dramas. Bodabil songs, dances, and comedy skits are
derived mainly from what was popular in America.

V. THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

Traces of pre-Hispanic theatre in indigenous groups still abound. As scholars

and artists come upon these communities, they have recorded these cultures for
posterity that would otherwise have been lost in time; and the discovery has
enriched their creative works.
Realism, expressionism and contemporized traditional forms were principal
tendencies evident on the birth of modern contemporary drama.
Western realism adopted by Filipino writers exhibits psychological and social
tendencies. The former focuses on an individuals problems while the latter
contextualizes the individual problem within a larger framework of class society.
Realism uses the power of empathy to touch the audience using three-dimensional
characters
Rising to popularity on top of realism is expressionism which exemplifies
social issues, through employing mime, dance, songs, symbols, stylized sets,
costumes and props, and almost anything that consciously destroy the illusion of
theatrical reality, hence clarify and intensify these issues to the audience.
Indeed, even with the advent of change, Filipino playwrights in this period
witnessed how the traditional forms of drama are still patronized and remain
popular among the masses. Today's theatrical productions are revivals, adaptations,
and innovations on century-old theatre forms such as rituals, the moro-moro,
corrido, zarzuela, and bodabil. They then embrace the thought of not just studying
them but instilling them with positive and relevant messages. To cite, the art of
balagtasan predates today's trend in Spoken Word and Performance Poetry.
Bibliography

Tionson, Nicanor. What is Philippine Drama? Filipinian Reader. Ed. Priscelina

Patajo-Lecasto. Quezon City: OASIS, University of the Philippines Open University,
1998.

Bautista, Arsenio. Philippine Theatre before the advent of Cinema

Lumbera, Bienvenido. Philippine Traditional Theatre Forms and the Performance
Area