Orosman at Zafira Set to Open on Feb 4

Catch this wonderful play this coming February. Read more about the story below. You can find my thoughts on my first view of the teaser production in my other blog as well as photos I took during the sneak peek at the press con last week. You can also find there more info on play dates and about the members of the cast and the production team.



Press Release:

Imagine living in a time when poetry was simply an everyday language. Beauty was magnified ten folds, pandemonium was disguised in lyrical verses, and love was simply glorious. But what happens when chaos is translated into poetry?

Dulaang UP, in partnership with Bit by Bit Development Company, is bringing back its blockbuster production of Francisco Baltazar’s OROSMAN AT ZAFIRA. Set to open on February 4, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. at the SM Mall of Asia Centerstage Theater, OROSMAN AT ZAFIRA will run until February 26, 2011.

OROSMAN AT ZAFIRA tells the story of the struggle for power of three kingdoms: Marueccos, Tedenst, and Duquela. It is a komedya written by Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar—a prominent Filipino poet known for his “Florante at Laura” and widely considered as the Tagalog counterpart of William Shakespeare because of his impact on Filipino literature.

Amid hatred and war where two individuals find love, this contemporary adaptation of Baltazar's text highlights the strength of the Filipina and celebrates the uniqueness of Philippine culture through original music and dance. But the universality of this play lies in the encompassing love that all of the characters of this play are in constant search for: “Pag-ibig, pag-ibig, at pag-ibig pa rin.”

OROSMAN AT ZAFIRA is a modernization of Baltazar’s famous komedya, a remake of a tradition that made it more accessible to this generation. Not to be mistaken as comedy, a komedya is taken from the Spanish comedia, a generic term of drama. It was brought over by Spanish colonizers as an evangelizing tool. It usually had plots about saints or warring kingdoms, and used staging conventions like structured choreographed entrances and exits.

The story of OROSMAN AT ZAFIRA begins with Zelima, daughter of Ben-Asar, right vizier of Boulasem, the pacha of the Kingdom of Tedenst. She sings about Mahamud, sultan of the entire realm and pacha of the Kingdom of Marruecos, and his call for a feast.

All the pachas of the realm have been invited, including Boulasem and Zelim, the pacha of the Kingdom of Duquela. Boulasem suspects that Mahamud secretly plans to kill all the pachas to gain absolute power. His paranoia leads him to order the murder of Mahamud during the feast—this results in a cycle of war, murder and treachery.

Gulnara, courtesan of Mahamud, and Zafira, orphaned daughter of the Sultan, begin the first war. Lust for power causes the war to drag on. Boulasem’s son, Abdalap, murders his own father to inherit the throne. He also threatens to put his brother Orosman to death so that he will be free to marry Orosman’s lover Zafira.

Many more lives are sacrificed all because of the greed for power. Will it ever end?