Rak of Aegis

I was in the beauty parlor having my quarterly haircut when my cell phone rang. It looked like my youngest daughter calling. Hi, Mom, she said, not sounding like Panjee, who is my youngest daughter. Sarri! I exclaimed. But I didn’t expect you until Thursday. You are home so early!

Of course it took my breath away. There is something special this season for me though I must admit I am just sort of an accidental celebrant. My daughters are all coming home because it is their father’s birthday and he has asked them all to fly in, including children and husband. Their father and I used to be married but we are now annulled. When we married, he was 28 and I was 18. In the decades department therefore 2014 is a big year for us. He is turning 80 and I turned 70 last August. So we all decided to celebrate my birthday on Dec. 14, while he will have a bigger bash, beginning with the launch of his book at the Ayala Museum on Dec. 17, his real birthday. Then they will take off for Bohol and stay there until the 22nd. 

 When they get back, on Dec. 23 I will have my Christmas lunch with my children and grandchildren because my eldest daughter will have to return to California on Christmas Day with two of her four children. She has work. They have school. We will have a family picture taken, the most complete. Then I want to be cremated with the picture. But until I die I will be happy being alive and enjoying brief moments with my children.

My daughter Sarri is buddies with Maribel Legarda, the excellent artistic director of PETA. Sarri, however, is married to an Englishman and lives in England, comes home only once every two or three years. When she is home she takes me to PETA plays. That’s how I saw and loved Care Divas and how, more recently, I saw and loved Rak of Aegis.

I love the sense of humor of Maribel. It shows in her conversations and in her work. I remember laughing so much in Care Divas and again in Rak of Aegis, though let me say that I never heard the local Aegis band before, never appreciated their music. I apologize but please understand — I am old and not their market. Nevertheless I loved Rak of Aegis, a play written around the Aegis songs. Both plays are outstanding, hilarious, musical, but with different depths. I thought Care Divas was outstanding for its story. Rak of Aegis is outstanding for the depth of its characters.

This is the simple story of a poor girl who lives in a flooded area in the Philippines. So this girl, Aileen, sings on YouTube and hopes to be discovered by Ellen Degeneres. That is her dream. She is surrounded by her boyfriend, who has issues with his mother and so is unclear about how he feels about her; her father, who is against her turning into a singer; her mother, who is encouraging, and a few other characters who add magical texture to the production.

My favorite character was Tolits, played by Pepe Herrera, an opera singer and actor. He was absolutely hilarious in the way he acted, the way he moved, the way he delivered his lines. He was the guy who drove a boat or banca through the floods and when Aileen stepped into the banca and found flood water and objected, he said, Foot spa, lang iyan. I thought I would die of laughter.

Also outstanding actor for me was Robert Sena, who played Kiel, Aileen’s father, and his real life wife, Isay Alvarez, who had a lovely deep voice. They had their own drama. This is definitely a charming Filipino play written by Liza Magtoto, the scriptwriter of Care Divas. I thought it was brilliant.

And as a sidelight, lately I’ve taken to wearing loose pants with garters at the ankles that I discovered first in PETA, then in Sentris, the Sunday market I have grown to love so much. I had been dying to go to PETA to buy more pants so when I got there I pulled Sarri to where the goodies for sale are and got her to look at the pants too. Suddenly I noticed the jewelry that was also for sale at Sentris. Then I looked at the girl who was selling. Then suddenly she said she sold at PETA and at Sentris. We recognized each other and became instant friends. 

So bring some money when you go. The pants, which come from Bangkok and other parts of Asia, are wonderfully comfortable. And you will enjoy Rak of Aegis immensely.

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