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 77-32,340

PONCE, Maria Dolores, 1926-

THE PALANCA PRIZE PLAYS: A PLAYSCRIPT
THEATRE PERSPECTIVE.

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Northwestern University, Ph.D., 1977
Theater

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University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, M ichigan 48106
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@ 1977

M AR IA DOLORES PONCE

AIL RIGHTS RESERVED

 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

THE PALANCA PRIZE PLAYS

A PLAYSCRIPT THEATRE PERSPECTIVE

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A DISSERTATION

SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

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IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

for the degree

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DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Field of Theatre
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By

MARIA DOLORES PONCE

Evans t o n , Illinois

.June 1977
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

X. THE A R G U M E N T .................................... 1

Statement of the P r o b l e m .................. 1

Purpose of the S t u d y ...................... 3
Related Studies ...................... . . 3
Procedure .................................. 4
Organization ............................... 8

II. OF INSUFFICIENT M A G N I T U D E ..................... 10

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Ang mga K a g a l a n g - g a l a n g .................. 13
Ang Huling Kahilingan .................... 15
May Ningning ang K i n a b u k a s a n ......... .. .
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Maskara . .................................. 16
Isang Araw ng P a g h u h u k o m .................. 17
I sang K u n d i m a n ............................. 18
It's April, What Are We Doing Here? ... 19
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Ang Aking K a p a t i d ......................... 21
Aling Poleng ............................. 22
Human I n t e r e s t ............................. 23
Anino ng K a h a p o n ........................... 24
And a Happy Birthday 1 .................... 25
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Bub ungang L a t a ...................... 26

Lust Is a Four-Letter W o r d ................. 27
The Mouth Is an Open W o u n d ................. 29
Voices of L a u g h t e r ......................... 30
In the Tangled S n a r e ...................... 32

III. THE TOPICAL P L A Y S ............................. 34

Ang P o l i t i k o ........... 35
Justice Is But a S e e m i n g .................. 35
Mister Congressman ......................... 37
Rise, T e r r a c e s ............................. 38
Sa Kuko ng A g i l a ........................ 40
Hulyo 4, 1954, A. D .................... 41
Kamatayan sa Loob ng Isang K u t a ......... 42
0 Lamb . . . Poor Lamb! .................. 43
Run, David, R u n ........................... 46
The S t r i k e .................................. 48
Makapaghihintay ang A m e r i k a ............. 49
Apparitions . ........................... 50

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS.— Continued

Chapter ..... Page

IV. THE WELL-MADE P L A Y S .................. 54

The D a n c e r s ................................ 56
The World Is an A p p l e .................... 60
Ikalawang Mukha ng Paninindigan ......... 63
Kamatayan: Iba't Ibang Anyo .............. 67
K i d n a p p e d .................................. 69
Knitting Straw ............................. 71
With Patches of Many H u e s ................ 72
Blood S p o o r ................................ 73
May Pangako ang Bukas . . . . . . ......... 75
Daloy ng B u h a y ............................. 76
The C o r r u p t i b l e s ........................... 79
B u r n i n g .................................... 80

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Baril at K a l i g t a s a n .................... . 83
Kamay na Bakal ........................... 84
Saan Papunta ang P a r u p a r o ? ................ 86
KaralitaanIE ......................... 87

V. THE HISTORY P L A Y S ............................. 91

Prelude to Glory .................. 92

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The Long, Dark N i g h t ...................... 98
Bakas ng K a h a p o n ............... 101
Versions of the D a w n ...................... 104
Cowards Die a Thousand D e a t h s ........... 114
Itim ang Kulay ng Paruparo ............. 115
Ang T a k s i l .................................. 119
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Among the F a i t h l e s s ....................... 123

Bahid ng Dugo sa Mukha ng B u w a n .......... 126

VI. THE SERIOUS P L A Y S ............................. 130

Nakalipad ang I b o n ......................... 133

A Second Generation ...................... 137
May Iba Pang D a i g d i g ....................... 140
Turn Red the S e a ........................... 142
Sinag sa K a r i m l a n ......................... 146
Play the J u d a s ............................. 149
Ang Huling Ulos ........... 151
Hagdan sa Bahag-hari ...................... 153
The C e l e b r a n t s ............................. 155
Madilim sa E n t r e s u e l o .................... 157
The F l y - T r a p ............................... 161
Mga Kaluluwang Naghahanap ................ 163
The Executives ........................... 166

iii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS.— Continued

Chapter Page

Gabi at A r a w ............................... 171

The S u m m i t .................... 176
Kamatayan ng mga S i m u l a i n ................ 179
Mga K a a w a a w a ............................... 183
Scent of F e a r ............................. 186

VII. THE C O M E D I E S .................. 190

The Efficiency Expert .................... 192

Pitong T a o n ............................... 194
K i n t i n ...................................... 196
Magkabilang Mukha ng Isang Bagol ......... 198

VIII. PECULIAR F O R M S .................................. 203

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M u n t i n l u p a .................................. 205
No Sadder R a c e ............................. 206
Ang Huling P a s i y a ......................... 208
Ang U w a k ....................................
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Moses, Moses ............................... 215
V i d a ........................................ 218
N e o n ................................... 220
Flores para los m u e r t o s .................. 223
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IX. THE THEATRICAL P L A Y S ........................... 229

Ang Mukha ni M e d u s a ...................... 230

Babasagang-Alon ........................... 231
Mga Y a g i t .................................. 233
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Longer Than M o u r n i n g ...................... 234

The Sign of the Sea G u l l s ................ 236
Amour Impossible ................ . . . . . 242
T u b i g ...................................... 243
Magkabilang Mukha ng Isang Bagol ......... 246

X. SUMMARY AND C O N C L U S I O N S ...................... 251

Trends in D r a m a t u r g y ...................... 252

Drifts in Dramatic Style .................. 253
Tendencies in Purpose .................... 254
Patterns in Subject Matter ................ 255
Lines on L a n g u a g e ......................... 256
Preferences in Setting .................... 261
State of S t a g e c r a f t s m a n s h i p ............. 261
Designs for V i c t o r y ...................... 265
R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s ........................... 266
Forecast from Findings .................... 267

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS.— Continued

Chapter Page

APPENDIX A. THE CARLOS PALANCA MEMORIAL AWARDS

FOR D R A M A .................................. 270

History of the Carlos Palanca Memorial

Awards for Literature ................ 270
Rules of the One-Act Play Contest . . . . 273
The Prize Plays, English Division . . . . 275
The Prize Plays, Pilipino Division . . . . 279
Statistical Analysis of the Palanca Awards
for D r a m a ............................. 283

APPENDIX B. THE PHILIPPINES AND THE F I L I P I N O ......... 294

Historical S y n t h e s i s ........... 294

Lingual Background ......................... 296

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Cultural Milieu ........................... 298
"Filipinized" Christianity ................ 300
The Filipino F a m i l y ...................... 309
Art in the P h i l i p p i n e s ....................
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APPENDIX C. SPECIMEN ANALYSIS ......................... 329

Structural Analysis . .# .................. 330

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Textual Analysis . . . . . ’ .................. 332
Production Analysis ...................... 337
Impressionistic Analysis .................. 341

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................... 343

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 CHAPTER I

THE ARGUMENT

The Palanca Prize Plays are award-winners of nation­

wide play writing competitions in the Philippines. These

annual contests are sponsored by La Tondena Incorporada in

memory of the late Don Carlos Palanca, Sr., founder of the

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corporation.'*' The competitions began in 1954 and continue

to the present. The plays tinder consideration won Palanca

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prizes in the years 1954 through 1970.

The Palanca plays comprise the most substantial col-

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lection of one-act plays written by Filipinos. The portion

. of the collection which is the subject of this study consists

2 . . . . . 3
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of one hundred plays, fifty-two of which are m P i l i p m o

^For details of information on the Palanca plays

see Appendix A, pp. 270-293.
2
The number one hundred here is purely accidental.
No significance should be attached to it, for no significance
was intended.
3
Pilipino is the official term for Tagalog, the
Philippine national language.

1
and forty-eight in English. Except for a few,1 they have not
2
been published.

Not all the one hundred plays are available for this

study. La Tondena Incorporada, sponsor of the Palanca con­

tests, Philprom, I n c ., promoters of the competitions, and the

3
editors of the forthcoming anthologies of the plays, report

that the manuscripts of eight of the plays cannot be located.

In this regard, the aid of the playwrights and judges was

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sought, but to no avail. As a consequence, only ninety-two

of the one hundred plays, fifty-one in Pilipino, forty-one

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in English, will be examined in this dissertation.

The missing play scripts are: one Pilipino

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play, Bato Man ay Naaagnas CStone Is_ Meltable) by Leonardo

P. Abutin, Consolation Prize, 1959; and seven English

plays, White Sunday by Jose M. Hernandez, third prize,

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1955; Island of the Heart by Wilfrido D. Nolledo, second

prize, 1956; The Largest Crocodile in the World by Adrian

E. Cristobal, second prize, 1960; Forever Witches by Estrella

D. Alfon, third prize, 1960; Out of Darkness by Nestor Torre,

Jr., third prize, 1964; Dialogue by Nestor Torre, Jr., first

1Some of the few Palanca plays that have been pub­

lished are: Alberto S. Florentine's The World Is an Apple
and The Dancers; Wilfrido D. Nolledo's Legend of the Filipino
Guitar and Turn Red the Sea; and Dionisio S . S a l a z a r 1s Hulyo
4, 1954 and Sinag Sa Karimlan.
2
Mimeographed copies of some of the plays may be b o r ­
rowed from the library of La Tondena Incorporada, Don Carlos
Palanca, Sr. Building, Echague, Manila.
3
The editor of the plays in English is Kerima Polotan-
Tuvera. Dionisio S. Salazar is the Pilipino editor.
 3

prize, 1969; and Days of the Clock by Jesus T. Peralta, second

prize, 1969.

There has not been any analysis of Philippine contem­

porary drama of the magnitude of a dissertation or major work.

However, it is not the aim of this dissertation to speculate

on the reasons for the nonexistence of such a study. The

purpose of this dissertation is to correct the omission.

The Palanca plays that have won in nationwide play

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writing competitions comprise the most comprehensive drama

collection for serious examination.

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vide adequate material for research in Philippine theatre

practice and play writing craftsmanship as well as preferences

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in subject matter and varieties in purpose, form, genre, style,
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language, and setting. The span of sixteen years, 1954-1970,

provides a sufficient interval of time within which to trace

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the patterns and trends in Philippine dramaturgy. In addi­

tion, the inclusion of both the English and Pilipino plays in

this collection affords the inquirer the opportunity to com­

pare the plays written in the playwright's native tongue with

the plays written in the playwright's second language.

According to the officials of La Tondena Incorporada

and Philprom, I n c ., a number of students have written term

papers and theses on the Palanca Memorial Awards for Litera­

ture; that is to say, on the awards in general. However, no

one has concentrated research on the plays specifically. The

theses referred to were written in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. There has not

been one written on the doctoral level.

The Palanca plays were judged on the basis of the

scripts. By the same token, because this reader of these

plays has not seen any of the few Palanca plays that have

been produced, her analysis will be based solely on the play

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scripts.

Cognizant of the fact that

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Each time a reader takes up a copy of a play, he
also puts on a pair of spectacles. The frame of these
spectacles is not plastic or horn but history. The lenses
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are not optical glass but accumulated dramatic practice
and theory. Fashioned by generations of creative and
critical theatre artists, these glasses are compacted of
preconceptions about what constitutes drama and how it
produces its effects. Each scene and each act is filtered
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through these invisible panes before reaching the imagina­

tion. Though similar intermediaries lie between the
reader and the novel, their influence is not do decisive
because the novel is a finished work. A play, however,
is a mere skeleton; performance fleshes out the bones.
Reading an "unfinished" play script depends upon the gov­
erning vision of one's spectacles.1

the "unfinished" play scripts will be studied as theatrical

scores. This play reader will endeavor to see the visual

elements of setting and decor, line and color, light and shade,

costume and mask, gesture and grouping, mime and movement, in

■^Bernard Beckerman, Dynamics of D r a m a : Theory and

Method of Analysis (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970), p. 3.
 5

the painting, sculpture, and dance that are inherent aspects

of the drama; and hear the aural elements of tempo, sounds,

tones, song, speech, and rhythm in t h e poetry and music that

are intrinsic to this composite art. Accordingly, mindful

that "a play really exists, lives and really lives, only when

its lifespark leaps from the stage and from the playwright's

soul across to the audience in a moment of vital contact1'^ the

play reader will play audience as these prize winners are

mounted on the stage of the imagination.

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To ensure objectivity, a number of theatre artists and

drama critics have been consulted.

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as guidelines for the play reader/viewer.

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On Drama and Dramaturgy

Not only is . . . the One-act form distinct from that

of the three-act form, it is also, in many ways more
exacting and more difficult. The play must begin at once,
and, with but a minimum of exposition, must get under way
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and move rapidly and effectively to a crucial moment, and

must terminate at the psychologically opportune time.
Though the time and space are relatively limited, the
dramatic picture and situation must be complete in itself;
there must be a singleness of impression.2

[The playwright] is a poet, but not of words; he is ^

a poet of words-acted, of scenes-set, of players-performing.

Henri Gheon, "The Conditions of Dramatic Art," The

Context and Craft of Dra m a , eds. Robett W. Corrigan and James
L. Rosenberg, (Scranton, P e n n . : Chandler Publishing Company,
1964) , p. 38.
2
B. Roland Lewis, The Technique of the One-Act Play; A
Study in Dramatic Construction (Boston: John W. Luce and
Company, 1918), p. 21.
3
Peter Brook, Preface to J^_ Anouilh: Ring Round the M o o n ,
trans. Christopher Fry (London: Methuen, 1950), p. 5.
 6

Any play depends to an important degree upon the

people for whom it is written and their reason for going
to the theatre; and the way the play is written for
acting and speaking depends upon the theatre in which it
is to be performed.-*•

The nature of the audience is for the dramatist the

most important of the conventions within which he must
work.2

A play must have as its primal purpose suitability

for the stage, and, if it has dramatic quality, it must
appeal to an audience.^

A play that does not appeal to an audience may have

merits, but it is no more a play than a mule is a horse.4

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There is no craft of the theatre; there is only the
mastery of the material through language and the stage.5

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On Critics and Criticism

The ideal critic is someone who tells us about his

reactions to .a work.of art, utilizing all the imagination,
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perception and passion that is in his power. If he is a
great critic, he quite literally remakes the work of art
for us. We might add that, in this respect, he is in
exactly the same position as the director of a play or the
conductor of an orchestra, both of whom are engaged in
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telling us— imaginatively and powerfully— about their

reactions to a drama or a symphony. Where the one artist

■^J. L. Styan, The Dramatic Experience (Cambridge:

University Press, 1965), p. 15.
2
W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up (London: William
Heinemann Ltd., 1938), p. 134.
3
Allardyce Nicoll, The Theatre and Dramatic Theory
(New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1962), p. 39.
4
Maugham, op. cit . , p. 131.
5
Friedrich Durrenmatt, Problems of the Theatre and
The Marriage of Mississippi (New York: Grove Press, Inc.,
1958), p. 26.
 7

verbalizes his perceptions through words on a page, the

other activates them by the manipulation of performers.

. . . the reviewer whose reaction to a play is contained

in some such ejaculations as "electrifying," "inspired,"
"a thunderbolt," "a mighty work," "a dismal bore," may
in each instance be right, but his being right does not
by itself make him a critic. For these epithets only
indicate effects: pleasure or displeasure. The true
critic is concerned with causes, with the composition of
human, social, formal substances which have produced the
effect. Strictly speaking, it is not even necessary
that the critic name the effect; it is imperative that
he take into account the sources from which it springs.
In doing this the critic is faithful to the work he treats
of, while at the same time he affords the reader some
idea of what manner of man the critic himself is— which

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is a crucial consideration.2

The basic premise . . . is that all theatre— from

burlesque, ballet, farce and musical comedy to high
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tragedy— has human significance. The job of the theatre
critic is first of all to determine what the human sig­
nificance of a particular play or performance is. In
doing this he evaluates it. Every play or performance
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has a certain quality or "weight" of life in it. The
critic must try to define its essence and place it in
some personal or traditional scale of values which the
reader in his turn is permitted to judge.3

The art.of dramatic criticism includes judgment, as the

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word itself demands; but it must spring from a deep and

personal love of, and interest in, the theatre. Its
value is the conveyance of these to its readers, inspiring
them to an equally devoted recognition and remembrance.4

Robert W. Corrigan and James L. Rosenberg (eds.),

The Context and Craft of Drama (Scranton, P a . : Chandler
Publishing Company, 1964), p. viii.
2
Harold Clurman, The Naked Image (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1966), p. 2.
3
Harold Clurman, Lies Like Truth (New York: Grove
Press, Inc., 1958), p. 1.
4 . . . .
S. R. Littlewood, The Art of Dramatic Criticism
(London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1952), p. 1.
 8

We are not judging the text/ but what the text makes the
actor make the audience do.^

. «, . the theatre, in its every dimension, must be judged

on the basis of what is being expressed, and h ow well.2

The ninety-two plays are divided into eight groups:

(1) Of Insufficient Magnitude, (2) The Topical Plays, (3) The

Well-Made Plays, (4) The History Plays, C5) The Serious Plays,

(6) The Comedies, C7) peculiar F o r m s , and C8) The Theatrical

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Plays. Many of the plays qualify for more than one classifi­

cation. Some of the topical plays, the well-made plays, the

nitude.
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history plays and the serious plays are of insufficient mag­

Several of the topical plays, history plays, serious

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p l a y s , peculiar forms, and theatrical plays-.are well-made.

A play's more dominant attribute is a determining factor. Dis­

persal is the other determinant.

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The supplementary material consists of: Appendix A,

which is a presentation of the history of the Carlos Palanca

Memorial Awards for drama, the rules governing the one-act

\
play contest, a list of the prize plays and judges, and an

analysis of the drama competition. Appendix B provides a

glimpse at the geographical, historical, lingual, sociological,

cultural, and artistic milieu of the Palanca plays. Appendix

^J. L. Sty an, The Elements of Drama (Cambridge: At

the University Press, 1969), p. 2.
2
Lies Like Trut h , p. 19.
 9

B aims to promote understanding between the Filipino play­

wrights and their non-Filipino audience, and between the

dissertation writer and her non-Filipino readers. Appendix

C is a sample analysis. It is a detailed illustration of the

process which each play undergoes prior to the culling of the

salient points of each analysis and their presentation in

condensed forms.

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 CHAPTER II

OF INSUFFICIENT MAGNITUDE

The guidelines for play reading-viewing having been

established in the preceding chapter, the first group of

Palanca plays will be considered. Preliminary to their con­

sideration is the examination of the meaning of dramatic

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action. The definition of action is requisite to the c o n ­

sideration of the plays that are regarded by the play reader-

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viewer as insufficient in audience appeal. A working defini­

tion of action is also essential to the analysis of the other

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Palanca plays.

The study of the meaning of action evolves from

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Aristotle's dictum that drama is "an imitation not of m en but

of a life, an a c t i o n . T h r o u g h the centuries, dramatic

scholars theorized on the definition of action. Eminent

among them is Professor Fergusson:

. . . the word [action] refers to the action of which the

play is an imitation; to the mimetic acts of the dramatist
— plot-making, characterization and speech— whereby he
makes the play; and to the mimetic acts of the performers
who reproduce, in the medium of their own beings, indi-

Aristotle, Poet i c s , translated with an introduction

and notes by Gerald F. Else (Ann Arbor, Mich.: The University
of Michigan Press, 1970), p. 27.

10
 11

vidual or characterized versions of the action the author

had in m i n d .1

Professor Fergusson concedes that action cannot be

abstractly defined, noting that Professors Macmurray, Franks

and Ewing in a symposium held by the British Aristotelian

Society in 1938 on the topic "What Is Action?" failed to

produce a helpful definition of the term. However, the funda­

mental importance of the concept of action has never been dis­

puted .

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If action cannot be abstractly defined, of what use
is the concept in the study of the dramatic arts? It
is to be used to indicate the direction which an analysis
of a play should take.
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dramatist is trying to show us, and we must in some sense
grasp that if we are to understand his complex art: plotting,
characterization, versification, thought, and their c o ­
herence. 2
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Mr. B. Roland Lewis' discourse on "The Nature of

Dramatic Action" is helpful and is especially germane to the

one-act play. He concurs with Professor Fergusson that the

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concept of action is analogical and "can therefore only be

3
understood with reference to particular actions."

The careful analysis of any One-act play will reveal

that its soul or its action is the progressive movement,
the inter-play of all the forces which enter into its
make-up— personality of character, dynamic nature of
incident and circumstance, plausible accident, all of which,
because of their very nature, give rise to a series of
situations and c r i s e s . 4

^Francis Fergusson, The Idea of a Theater (Princeton,

N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1968 ) 7 p. 230.

2Ibid. 3Ibid.
4
B. Roland Lewis, The Technique of the One-Act Play
(Boston: John W. Luce and Co., 1918), p. 163.
 12

The hypothesis advanced in this investigation is

that the action of the plays in this chapter is of insuf­

ficient magnitude. This investigator will endeavor to show

that because of this insufficiency in significance or influ­

ence these plays do not measure up to "the prime criterion,

the essential standard, the power . . . to grip and stimulate

a body of spectators in the playhouse."^

Drama as imitation has been compared to a mirror.

Victor Hugo's thoughts on the kind of "mirror" that drama

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ought to be are helpful in this study.

It has been said, "The drama is a mirror in which

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nature is reflected." But if this mirror be an ordinary
mirror, a flat and polished surface, it will provide but
a poor image of the objects, without relief— faithful but
colourless; it is well known that colour and light are
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lost in a simple reflection. The drama, therefore, must
be a focusing mirror, which, instead of making Weaker,
collects and condenses the coloured rays which will make
of a gleam a light, of a light a flame. Then only is the
drama worthy of being counted an art.2
PR

How does one recognize an action worthy of the mimetic

acts of the actor and the contemplation of an assembled com­

munity of people? The sense of recognition is as fundamental

as knowing the truth when we see it and

as we know that we are awake when we are awake. For

example: you have never been in Heaven, and you have
never seen an angel. But if someone produces a play
about angels whose scenes are laid in Heaven you will

^ l l a r d y c e Nicoll, The Theatre and Dramatic Theory

(New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc . , 1962), p. 50.
2
Victor Marie Hugo, Preface to Cromwell (Paris:
Librairie Alphonse Lemerre, 1951), p. 11.
 13

know at a glance whether his work is right or wrong.

Some curious intuition will tell you. The sense of recog­
nition is the highest experience the theatre can give.l

Consequently, the writer of this dissertation claims, with

the rest of mankind, the intuitive perception which recognizes

in a play that quality which will attract spectators "and

2
disturb them and haunt them and make them dream."

Correspondingly, sixteen plays will be viewed in this

chapter. These plays are of three categories: (1) the

"expository essays," (2) the "descriptive essays," and (3) the

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incoherent. Each category is discussed in a separate section.

Each section focuses on a play which best typifies one of the

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three categories while the rest of the plays belonging in the

section are cited as supportive details.

EV

The first group of plays under scrutiny barely attain

complication. For this reason they are categorized as

PR

"expository essays." A typical example is Ang Mga Kagalang-

galang (The Respectable) , second prize, Pilipino Division,

1960, by Amado V. Hernandez. Ang Mga Kagalang-galang is an

expository discourse on the transitoriness of affluence.

Scene one describes Torcuato Grande, his wife Magdalena,

his two daughters, Boling and Nenet, the palatial house in which

^■Robert Edmond Jones, The Dramatic Imagination (New

York: Theatre Arts Books, 1941), pp. 75-76.

2Ibid., p. 82.
 14

they live, and the opulent banquet to be held that evening

(three caterers, three menus: Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino;

two orchestras) to honor Boling and Nenet who have just come

home from an extended tour of Europe and America.

The first part of scene two reports the observations

of Torcuato and Magda on their guests and the soundness of

their investment of fifty thousand pesos in this party for

publicity, prestige, and business credit. The latter part

of scene two is a lecture on how big business operates, the

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great risks, assets and liabilities, journalistic ethics,

conscience, and other matters.

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Scene three exposes Magda's anxiety for publicity,

Boling's opinion of Nenet's American boy friend, and Nenet's

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opinion of Boling's Chinese fiance.

Scene four records the conversation in which Mrs.

Bigay who makes her living by smuggling diamonds into the

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country convinces Magda to invest a hundred thousand pesos in

her smuggling operations by guaranteeing her a 300 per !

cent share of the profits.

Scene five records the lamentations of Boling whose

fiance was imprisoned on suspicion of affiliations with Com­

munist China, of Nenet whose boy friend lost his claims in

the mines of Benguet, of Magda whose investment of a hundred

thousand pesos was lost in the arrest of Mrs. Bigay and the

consequent confiscation of the diamonds, and of Torcuato who

 15

is facing the possibility of imprisonment and who has been

fined one million pesos by the Bureau of Internal Revenue

for income tax evasion.

Ang Mga Kagalang-galang hardly reaches the point of

complication. The first four scenes are exposition scenes,

the last scene is the resolution. The conflicts take place

"outside" the play and are merely reported by the characters

in scene five.

Another expository essay is Ang Huling Kahilingan

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(The Last Request} <■ first prize, Pilipino Division, 1963, by

Benjamin P. Pascual. Ang Huling Kahilingan1s "action before

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the play" is implied in the dialogue: the dying petition of

Sally was for her family never to know that she ever worked
EV

in a house of prostitution. She toid her parents in her home­

town that in Manila she worked as a seamstress. Ang Huling

PR

Kahilingan is a continuance of the deception. When Sally's

mother calls at the house after being informed of her daughter's

demise, everyone, from the matron who runs the business to the

housemaid, cooperates in the fulfillment of Sally's last

request. For them it means a suspension of work for a few

days, and therefore a loss of money, but they all go out of

their way to help Sally's mother cherish the memory of her

daughter as a dutiful child who lived beyond reproach. Ang

Huling Kahilingan is mere expository dialogue wit h barely any

internal or external action.

 16

Also expository is May Ningning ang Kinabukasan

(The Spark of Promise) , second prize, Pilipino Division, 1955,

by Clodualdo del Mundo. May Ningning ang Kinabukasan presents

two views of the older generation on the younger generation.

This is the gist of May. Ningning ang Kinabukasan; A layman

and a priest express their opinions regarding the younger gen­

eration. Exeunt. A boy and a girl talk about social brackets.

Another boy comes around to ask the girl to dance with him.

The girl says no, the first boy says no, and the second boy

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says, after being knocked down by an uppercut, "You were

meant for each other." IEFinis. May Ningning ang Kinabukasan

is a homily in the form of a dialogue.

Likewise, Maskara (M a s k ) , second prize, Pilipino

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Division, 1965, by Pablo M. Cuasay, is- a platitudinous essay.

Scene one is exposition. Tony, the mayor of a small town,

runs the numbers game in the town adjacent to his. Deploying

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a multitude of platitudes, his wife, a schoolteacher, tries

to convince him to give it up. For twenty minutes, the whole

of scene one, the mayor and his wife sit discussing reasons

for and against illegal lottery. Scene two is more exposition.

The mayor has been brought to a cave in the mountains by his

kidnappers. The spectator is informed of the amount of the

ransom; that one of the men guarding the mayor escaped from

prison; that Ruben, the leader of the kidnappers, was expelled

from the Philippine Military Academy in his senior year because