After the winter of our discontent? ‘Spring Awakening’

Germany. Turn of the century. When most adults found themselves in the proverbial winter of their discontent, of which trial and suffering encrusted Germany’s shifting political, philosophical, and economic landscapes, spring was, for most teenagers, a season characterized by personal demons, conflict, and inexorable inner turmoil.

The institutions, mores and social structures that had a grip on Germany during the late 19th century prevented any sort of enlightenment for most adolescents who were desperately seeking answers — a time in which public silence on matters such as sex had unwittingly warped the minds of teenagers and damaged their relationships with friends, family, and the very fabric of the world itself.

At a time when their curiosity and exploration became as rabid and involuntary as the act of breathing, spring and sexual awakening became the teenager’s inevitable course. After all, teenage years, no matter the century, have always been a turbulent yet defining time in one’s life.

At the heart of this conflict, brought to fore by the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening, for which Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater created a bodacious pop-rock score, are teenagers Melchior Gabor and Wendla Bergman, two people who couldn’t be anymore different.

Melchior (played by Gab Medina) is an overconfident, arrogant 15-year-old brought up by a family of progressive thinkers. He is knowledgeable about a lot of things considered taboo, particularly about sex and the corruption of society, though these remain ensconced in the bowels of his own brain.

On the other hand, Wendla (played by Ber Reyes) is Melchior’s opposite. While she shares the same passionate pursuit for truth, she is locked within a family of conservatives who refuses to talk to her about the birds and the bees. It is this lack of guidance that fuels her curiosity and makes her come of age as she devastatingly stumbles upon the answer to the question, “How are babies born?”

Young STAR picks the minds of the show’s two leads about personal affliction, exploration, and the season that comes after spring.

YOUNG STAR: Tell us about your character.

GAB: Melchior is someone who is ahead of his time. Because of this, we see him to be confident and passionate. I think though that beyond his exterior is a young boy who doesn’t yet know who he is.

BERNICE: Wendla is a young girl who simply wants to know everything there is to know about herself and the world around her. She is a bright girl with a big heart and a drive for knowledge and truth.

How similar or different are you from your characters?

GAB: We’re oddly very similar. We both have a strong drive to challenge the system. To do something when we see injustice in society. I’d also like to think we’re both free thinkers in that we tend to question and doubt everything. Like my character Melchior, I also don’t believe in God.

BERNICE: Very similar. I am also a girl who wants to keep knowing more about the things around me and I have such a big heart. One difference is that I am born in a much more modern era. I believe I had enough guidance from my family and friends as I was growing up.

How groundbreaking is Spring Awakening?

GAB: Spring Awakening was originally subtitled “A Children’s Tragedy” and that’s what it is. The story centers on the inner thoughts of children, and how they are influenced by puberty, curiosity, and society. With all that going on, we get to see teenage angst and issues that are so familiar, told through the music of Duncan Sheik.

BERNICE: Personally, I think the play centers on the idea of exploration. Through this, it will show the different sides of different teens — some will be frustrated, scared or pained about the things they discover, some will be even more curious and awed by the things they learn, and some will be forever haunted by the things they had to do to satisfy their cravings. It is a story that counts because it is the kind that moves… and scars.

Spring Awakening talks about the loss of innocence. What is something you know now that you wished you knew then?

GAB: That I should trust my gut more, and care less about what other people think.

BERNICE: I think I would keep how I learned things as I grew up. Although it may be hard and confusing sometimes, I think it taught me a number of things that made me who I am today. It gave me the strength and mindset I have now when facing the world, and I wouldn’t have gotten them without having the entirety of my past.

What afflictions has the play helped you confront?

GAB: I have learned to listen more to what people have to say. Like Melchior, I am sometimes consumed by my own opinions and beliefs that it hinders me from looking at the bigger scheme of things.

BERNICE: It definitely helped me be more hopeful. Every time we run the show at rehearsals with our director Andrei Pamintuan, I am constantly reminded of how, despite the many hurts we go through, life goes on. And that there will always be a purple summer after a troublesome spring.

Your character in one equation.

GAB: Melchior Gabor = me. 

BERNICE: (A big heart + determination) - guidance = Wendla.

Finally, why Spring Awakening?

GAB: The beauty of Spring Awakening is that the material is so relevant and poetic, that so many interpretations have been derived from it. To put it simply, the show has 15 year olds in focus — which is the transition between childhood and adolescence.

BERNICE: It is a child’s second birth in the world; where he or she discovers the mysteries of sexuality, or finds that sadness, doubt, loss and grief exist in the world. It is also specifically called “spring” because it is just a phase in a person’s life — it begins and it will eventually end. “The sadness, the doubt, all the loss, the grief, will belong to some play from the past.” (The Song of Purple Summer)

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Spring Awakening will be showing at the Rizal Mini Theater, Ateneo de Manila University from Feb. 20 to Feb. 24, Feb. 27 to 28, and March 1. Weekdays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. For tickets, call 0915-6251625.