Lulu - A Review

It could have been shorter, simpler and sexier.

I don't have a problem with the cast; I have a problem with the script. For one, the play could have done without a number of characters. For instance, the child. Why make him/her stay on the theater for three hours on a school night if you'll only need him/her to show up at the beginning and end? There's no point in juxtaposing innocence with Lulu (if ever that's the case), because we already know what Lulu is - the personification of desire. Besides, there's no acting involved in walking up the aisle and playing with newspapers on the ground. But then that's just one of the few things that have been thrown into this melee of a play. And I may have an analogy for this. You know the new Red Ribbon cakes with flavors that are a bit too complicated? Like, you have mocha, creme, nuts, pieces of such and such and this and that - how the hell would you even be able to savor the cake with all that, er, "jazz"? It may do ok for others, but not for me. I'd rather have brazo de mercedes or choco roll from Goldilocks.

I expected this play to be, well, R-18. To me, if felt like Lulu's struggles were more implied. What did she really want? What made her happy? Not that I wanted more sex scenes in the play. But who are we kidding. This is a play about lust, seduction and gender. Maybe its sensuality was lost in the long dialogues that I found tedious. One of the important lessons I learned in our documentary filmmaking workshop under Direk Nick Deocampo is that you don't tell, you show. This is intuitive, you might say, but the play could have forgotten it because the lines delivered by the actors were mostly descriptions of Lulu's past and how they feel about her. Plus I hate the fact that the men had to die in order to prove a point.

Some of the parts were incoherent to me, too. Not to mention that Dora balloon which was quite the scene stealer. Lulu is complicated, I discern that much. Perhaps the play's style is akin to the feminist method of storytelling in a non-linear way. The play is chronologically straight, but the way it is executed makes my mind whirl. And my body go into sleep mode (I was able to grab more than 40 winks in the first part, hehe). Hey, I have an apt title change for the play - Lull. I apologize for sounding harsh, but what else do I have but my opinion? =)

For a description of the play, go to Gibbs Cadiz's blog.