Tanghalang Ateneo’s Romeo + Juliet at the HNU Stage

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, the tragic tale of star-crossed lovers Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, sure is as sweet as it is gripping, wherever it’s set, whatever language it’s told, or whatever medium it’s told with.

Romeo & Juliet has been adapted manyfold, from faithful stage adaptations to unlikely versions like the West Side Story set in the streetgang-ridden1950s New York and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet in modern Verona, a coastal California city.

Continue reading »

Who died and made a Moai-wannabe & a little English castle into Bohol icons?

This is the newest attraction at the Plaza Rizal in Tagbilaran. Yes, attraction. I can see people taking pictures in front of this hardscape now. Next thing we know, they’re making an amusement park out of our beloved plaza. Me, I want a mug.

Oh silly, silly me, but that’s an agta – body buried by an anthill, you know, a torture device right out of that hoax-of-a-code by that Kalantiao character.  Pwede, no?

Uh, but what about those darn brick crenellations and machicolations? Ah, basta.