I was recently given a DVD copy of a play, ?Ang Pakikipagsapalaran ni Radia Mama-Apan,? which was presented at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. It had a full array of costumes and props reflecting the play?s origins in Maranao culture.

The quality of the production was also quite high, and made all the more striking because the actors and actresses were all children. Not only that, they were street children.

The play was a production of UP Manila?s Office of Pahinungod and Continuing Education, which handles the university?s volunteer programs. Under this office is a street kids program directed by professor Arnulfo Esguerra, who also wrote the play.

The play was produced on a very low budget: a P50,000 grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCAA), supplemented by donations from private groups and corporations, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines waiving rental fees for its Little Theater.

Most important though was the volunteer time that went into the production. C. J. Andaluz of Pixel Art Media Productions volunteered to be creative director, no small task when you think of how rowdy street children can be.

Theater has a way of taming the spirit and the production of ?Radia Mama-Apan? showed this. It was amazing how synchronized the children were, whether singing out as a chorus, playing bamboo instruments and the kulintang, or going through choreographed scenes. The movements were important because they symbolized particular activities, from courtship to warfare.

Morality play

Many groups have used theater to try to get street children back into the mainstream. Theater is seen mainly as alternative recreation for the children, helping them to build self-esteem and team spirit. Some advocates of children?s theater, especially with street children, talk about theater as therapy, helping the children to overcome their cynicism of the world, and distrust of mainstream society.

?Mama-Apan? reminds us though of still another function of theater: when you have children acting out a story, they internalize the characters, the story lines, and the intended messages of the play.

Esguerra?s choice of ?Mama-Apan? was a wise one because it?s a story that is full of social messages, a kind of 21st century morality play, complete with street colloquialisms like ?pogi? (handsome). Yet, the story is actually quite old, coming from the Maranao and based on a still older story which I?ll explain shortly.

The plot is complicated. Radia Mandandiri and Maharadiaya Lawana are preparing to marry. But there?s a villain here, Radiya Mangawarna, who hires a tonang or a witch to capture Mandandiri?s inikaduwa (loosely, her spirit, not quite the soul but her personhood and dignity).

Once the inikaduwa is lost, the person?s nobility of spirit is lost as well, and this happens with Mandandiri, resulting in a cancellation of the wedding.

A lost inikaduwa can be regained only by another person who has wisdom that comes out of generosity and a pure heart. The character with these attributes is Mandandiri?s younger brother, Mama-Apan. The title of the play, describing Mama-Apan?s difficult task, is most appropriate: ?pakikipagsapalaran? refers to playing with one?s fortunes, with all its uncertainties. I hear the term quite often among overseas workers about to leave the Philippines and watching this play reminded me of what our workers have to go through, negotiating with witches and spirits to recapture the goodness and dignity of their families.

The message of the play is simple: evil cannot be counteracted by more evil. There has to be goodness of heart and generosity. In one scene, the tonong asks Mama-Apan to surrender his kris or sword, highlighting the message that weapons or force will not be the key to Mama-Apan?s quest. To accomplish his task, Mama-Apan has to answer riddles posed by the witch?which again is symbolic of our lives, and its many challenges, and the importance of wisdom.

There are many twists and turns to the story, including retribution for the villain, Mangawarna, whose own inikaduwa is endangered, highlighting how wrong-doing produces risks for the perpetrator as well.

I can imagine how the street children came to understand the play?s messages while rehearsing and acting out the play. Imagine the children playing out the exchange between the tonong and Mama-Apan consisting of riddles. ?What is higher than the sky?? asks the tonong. Mama-Apan answers, ?Awa? (mercy). And what, the tonong proceeds to ask, is swifter than the wind? Mama-Apan answers, ?Ang isip? (the mind).

Ecumenical

The plot of the story may have sounded familiar to some readers, especially those who have been exposed to ?Ramayana.? And that shouldn?t be surprising since the Maranao ?Darangen? is actually based on the Indian epic.

Except for Brunei, I?ve visited all the Southeast Asian countries and in each of these countries, I?ve always been amazed at how ?Ramayana? is so much loved. Although associated with Hindu culture, it is ecumenical, now entrenched in predominantly Buddhist and Muslim countries in the region.

Everywhere in Southeast Asia, the epic has made its way into local culture. Children are named after characters in the epic. The story itself is depicted in batik, carvings, and, most importantly acted out in theater. ?Ramayana? theater varies, ranging from high-brow grand artistic productions originally intended for the aristocracy to much simpler productions performed out in the streets, for example, as wayang kulit (puppets) in Indonesia.

Seeing ?Ramayana? everywhere in Southeast Asia, I used to wonder why it was almost completely unknown in the Philippines. Some Filipinos will vaguely remember some reference to the epic in a high school or college course, or will recall one fancy theater production some years ago, but other than that, it has no meaning for most Filipinos.

It was only in recent years that I learned that ?Ramayana? did make it to the Philippines, to ?Darangen.? Rama is reincarnated in this Maranao epic as Radia (Raja) Mangandiri. Ravana is Maharadia (Maharaja) Lawana. Hanuman becomes Laksamana.

The spread of ?Ramayana? from India to Southeast Asia reminds us that globalization is not new. But the Maranao adaptation also tells us that amid globalization, there is localization (or glocalization) too. ?Darangen? has modified ?Ramayana? so much that the original Indian epic is barely recognizable.

Esguerra acknowledges his debt to still another version of Darangen, produced in 1994 by PETA and entitled ?Ang Paglalakbay ni Radiya Mama-Apan.? Life?s a journey indeed, and from ?Ramayana? to ?Darangen,? from India to the Philippines, we need more plays like ?Radiya Mama-Apan? in and out of our schools to give some sense to life, and the struggles between good and evil.

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Email: mtan@inquirer.com.ph