Love is typically advertised, packaged, and sold as an experience that brings a feeling of tranquility. In this Manila-staged production of Biñan-founded theatre group YPC Stage, their first outside the Laguna province, love is advertised as an experience that vows to break hearts. It is packaged as a group of one-act plays from Palanca-winning playwright Eljay Castro Deldoc. It is then sold to audiences as a production that marks one step forward in YPC Stage’s full realization of its ambitions. 

‘Ang Liknayan ng Ating Mga Katawan’

Beginning things strong is this two-hander between Ross Pesigan and Jury Sanchez. The latter’s Hershey Mae seeks to confront Pesigan’s Sir Banakon, whose stern and no fluff personality has ticked off Hershey Mae. 

Sanchez conveys her character’s bubbly, carefree exterior with ease. There is a magnetic quality to her and her Hershey Mae. This is especially evident whenever she ‘accidentally’ drops her facade to reveal her devious character from time to time. Her character is somehow very obvious but also very perplexing to watch. It is impossible to take your eyes off from Hershey Mae, thanks to the commitment and passion Sanchez brings. Opposite her is Pesigan, whose stress from the scenario presented onstage is palpable among audiences. He commands the stage not only with his yells, but also with the fervor in his face. 

The play is centered on chemistry. The work gives good material for its actors to work with. However, it is bogged down by the constant equation of human feeling with scientific theories. There is some beauty in Deldoc’s attempt to emphasize how science cannot sufficiently explain why we feel what we feel, yet the execution covers the work with a schmaltzy sheen. 

Competent direction from BJ Borja emphasizes the inherent age and power dynamics in play. Borja also knows how to elicit the big emotions from Sanchez and Pesigan, and he is good at that. Lights from Gabo Tolentino are minimal, but they are used so effectively and immersively.

‘Ilihan at Kalingaw’

The fantastical work is centered on Gab Pangilinan, whose Ilihan writes love poems for a man she is forbidden to love. Playing a historian who preserves memory, the weight of Ilihan’s lived experiences are conveyed by Pangilinan with an assured grace that is remarkably hers. She is matched with Euden Moje, whose Kalingaw has a kind of fervent passion that audiences will understand why Pangilinan’s Ilihan is eager to resist her tribe. 

However, Deldoc’s book lacks the excitement and thrill innate in the titular duo’s story. Its surface stances on conviction and opposition are remarkable, but there is not enough substance that Pangilinan and Moje can truly work off. Borja’s execution of the material for performance was ultimately okay, with some quirks that add to the work’s eccentricity. There is potential to this specific work, especially when it comes to Ilihan’s sense of self. 

‘Ganito Ang Pinangarap Kong Kasal’

Ending the production is a melodrama between same-sex couple France and Noel plus their girl best-friend Kris. Playing the openly gay France is Phi Palmos, who affirms once again that he is as reliable as ever. Palmos goes through various emotions, all of which are believable because he wholly embodies everything. You feel his pain, his grief, but also his joy and mania. You also get to understand Palmos and his France’s actions over time. Palmos develops his character’s wholeness through subtle mannerisms and voice inflections. 

Playing his girl best-friend Kris is Loudette Barias, whose chaotic persona feels wholly natural and familiar. Barias is simply a joy to watch on stage. It would not be farfetched to say she can and she will make the audience laugh in bigger theatres. Opposite them is Kokoy de Santos, whose Noel is convincingly on the down low. Written as detached and disinterested, de Santos purely serves as foil for Palmos and Barias. Yet he still holds his own with his portrayal of a spineless boy with barely any agency.

Deldoc captures the frank nature of same-sex, liberated relationships. The dialogue is accurate, and the chemistry feels authentic thanks to Borja’s capability to develop chemistry. However, the maturity it initially promised evaporates as the play progresses forward in time. After a sizable skip, audiences now see Palmos in emotional ruin, having lost de Santos’s character to heteronormative ideals with Barias’s character. 

The scenario shown is incredibly scandalous, so it is fitting that it receives an equally scandalous resolution. However, this resolution, which sees Palmos’ France walking Barias’s Kris down the aisle to de Santos’s Noel, is reductive and regressive. The nuances are merely hinted at, but Deldoc does not fully engage with these nor the intrinsic depth in the work. The ending of this last play lives up to the production’s title, but at the expense of true queer liberation that the play hinted at in the beginning. 

Further information

‘Mapanakit! Mga Dulang Bittersweet’ is produced by YPC Stage. It will run from July 25 to August 11, 2026, at the IBG-KAL Theater in UP Diliman.

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