Tanghalang Pilipino's "Der Kaufmann" at the CCP

The character (I won't say who) in the poster looks like a Sto. Niño. What a coincidence. Jesus is a Jew, after all.

Tanghalang Pilipino, the resident theater company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, is now presenting "Der Kaufmann", Rody Vera's adaptation of "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare and based on the Tagalog translation "Ang Negosyante ng Venecia" by Rolando Tinio. "Merchant" tells the story of when Antonio, a merchant of Venice, borrows a huge sum of money from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. The former defaulted his loan so latter demands "a pound of flesh" from him as payment. Antonio is rescued from his quandary by the legal savvy of Portia, who disguised herself as "a doctor of law".

TP's retelling is set in a German concentration camp during World War II. The play promises to portray the horrors of Anti-Semitism (hatred towards the Jewish people) and homophobia (hatred of homosexuals).
 

One of the play's performers retweeted me on Twitter. Flattered.

Of all the plays I've reviewed so far, this is the one which I had to do the most reading. I read the text of Bill Shakespeare's play. I also read a lot on Anti-Semitism, conspiracy theories against Jews, and the Holocaust. One thing I had to stay away from are play reviews on the Internet. Since the play has been running for a week a lot of netizens have already written their pieces. So I've been valiantly trying to resist the temptation of reading those reviews. >.<

Bill Shakespeare's play is already mind-numbing (despite being a comedy) and Rody Vera's treatment seems to promise that it will be more brain-crushing.

I will be seeing this play, G-d  willing, this afternoon.

I hope to be able to write my review within next week.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tanghalang-Pilipino-Foundation-Inc-resident-theater-company-of-CCP/351721918247346
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TanghalangPil

Schedule:

Second Week
Friday / October 4 / 10:00 am & 3pm
Saturday / October 5 / 10:00 am, 3:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Sunday / October 6 / 3:00 pm

Third Week:
Friday / October 11 / 10:00 am & 3:00 pm
Saturday / October 12 / 3:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Sunday / October 13 / 3:00 pm

Venue:
Tanghalang Huseng Batute
Cultural Center of the Philippines

TICKETS:
Regular: Php600; Student: Php300
20% discount on the regular price for senior citizens, governmentemployees, military employees and PWDs. (Please present valid ID)

Tickets available at all TicketWorld outlets. Call TicketWorld at 891-9999 or contact 0917-750-0107 for more details...



Thanks to Ma'am Cherry Bong Edralin, marketing manager of Tanghalang Pilipino.