Love Actually

British Council Director Jill Westaway opened Love Actually at the Podium with a few introductory words, and Carolyn Dimond, wife of British Ambassador Paul Dimond (who headed the audience) gave some illuminating remarks. Prior to these, she read a love sonnet written by Sir Philip Sydney in 1591 which poem, she said, "captures the essence of what the British Council has prepared for you tonight".

Mrs. Dimond continued: "It is a common perception that the British are cold and generally do not exhibit emotion. But as you will hear from our performers, the passion is just as overwhelming. Indeed, some of the world’s greatest romances sprang forth in the United Kingdom." She then ticked off the names of such romantic pairs as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the Victorian poets, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Of the last-mentioned couple, Mrs. Dimond observed: "Their fiery intensity – with its passion and jealousy, lust and longing, on screen and off camera – was as dramatic as any film they appeared in."

The foregoing remarks, although condensed encapsulate the meaning and substance of Love Actually. Now for some specifics.

Bobby Gomez on the piano and Holly Angel Paraiso on the harp regaled the audience with their music which was to accompany thereafter four young highly-talented actor-singers who had visited or studied in the UK on scholarships.

Rosalyn Perez, leader of the group, Jake Macapagal, Michelle Gallaga-Trinidad and Lance Raymundo took turns reciting (or reading) romantic poems from Shakespeare, Marlowe, Byron, Browning, Auden to contemporary poets singly or by twos or all together. Or singing in the same order.

There was a brief scene from Romeo and Juliet re-enacted by Rosalynn and Jake, a recital of Byron (She walks in beauty like the night), Barrett (How do I love thee?) etc., the scenes enlivened later on by lines from modern poets, composers and lyricists in avowals of enduring love affection, friendship versus love, or of love gone sour. Bobby Gomez accompanied himself on the piano in High and Dry. Director Angie Magbanua, in a Victorian gown, compelled attention tartly reciting a clever poem – that underscored her generous girth – and singing No Matter What. The players, in jeans, could have created more ambiance had they been less casually dressed.

The over-all performance was amusing, delightful, witty by turns, and always entertaining. For the literati as well as for English literature majors, the program was a marvelous experience.