Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas’ 49th theater season echoes Dr. José Rizal’s call for interventionist action with the theme, “Paano Umalala nang may Pag-alaga?” This milestone season tackles the urgent question of how a society remembers its past and protects its collective memory with radical care, especially in an era facing rapid historical amnesia.
Photo: Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas
Commemorating Rizal’s 130th death anniversary, Dulaang UP presents back-to-back stagings of Rizal’s revolutionary novels, Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo. The company brings together two of the country’s most prominent theater directors to breathe new life into foundational Filipino texts—a continuation of founding artistic director and National Artist for Theater Tony Mabesa’s legacy of rendering timeless pieces in present-day contexts and struggles.
Photo: Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas
By presenting Rizal’s two landmark novels in dialogue, Dulaang UP’s 49th theater season elevates traditional historical archiving by turning the stage into a living archive. Instead of confining history to textbooks, the theater animates heritage, enabling actors and audiences to physically engage with, question, and pass on the nation’s cultural memory.
This vibrant space bridges classroom theory and today’s world, serving as a rigorous training environment where experienced professionals and student scholars collaborate. Ultimately, this artistic practice grounds both performers and audiences in truth, fostering a living, multilayered understanding of our shared societal challenges.
Photo: Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas
Rizal’s novels remain highly relevant today because the issues they exposed—such as systemic corruption, abuse of power and civic apathy—still afflict the modern Philippines. Characters like Doña Victorina and the corrupt friars showcase political opportunism, greed and manipulation, reflecting current political dynasties and institutional graft. Rizal’s works remind us that although the oppressors’ faces have shifted from colonial rulers to local elites and aspiring kleptocrats, the fight of the masses against injustice remains unchanged. Reading these works today is revelatory of societal problems that have merely evolved since the 19th century, not vanished.
Photo: Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas
Additionally, the contrasting methods of reform through Crisostomo Ibarra and Simoun provide an enduring lesson in social activism and nation-building. Ibarra’s focus on education and institutional change emphasizes the importance of truth, critical thinking, and intellectual freedom—crucial tools in combating today’s widespread misinformation and historical inaccuracies.
Meanwhile, Simoun’s turn to radical revolution serves as a warning about the harmful effects of extinguishing peaceful paths to justice. In the end, both novels encourage contemporary Filipinos to reject complacency, seek enlightenment, and actively participate in fostering a society grounded in equity.
Photo: Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas
The season opens with José Estrella’s direction of a reimagining of Noli Me Tángere (based on the Filipino translation by National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario), titled Fiestas y Muertos. Estrella’s staging presents Noli Me Tángere through two contrasting visual and emotional themes: the chaotic, forced happiness of public fiestas and the quiet, eerie reality of societal decline and death (muertos).
Photo: Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas
This production mirrors the societal issues of Spanish colonial San Diego, where lavish religious events are used by the ruling elite to hide extreme poverty, corruption and psychological suffering. Framing Rizal’s novel within this dramaturgical approach transforms it from a conventional period piece into a dynamic, ritualistic cycle of life, death and societal spectacle. This viewpoint offers a deep reflection on a people who, as Elias quietly states at the end, might perish in darkness without witnessing the dawn.
Following this, Dexter Santos takes the helm for Nitrogliserina, a new play by Guelan Varela-Luarca based on and inspired by El Filibusterismo. This alternate narrative pursues the revolutionary possibilities left unresolved in Rizal’s final novel. What if the story we inherited was not the one we needed?
Photo: Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas
Interrogating the limits of reform, the violence of established orders and the fantasies of liberation that continue to haunt the Filipino imagination, Nitrogliserina confronts the precarious aftermath of a revolution. As power structures collapse and new futures emerge, the play offers a meditation on the price of remaking a nation.
Fiestas y Muertos will run from October 23 to November 15, 2026, with Nitrogliserina scheduled for February to March 2027. Both productions will be held at the IBG-KAL Theater, UP Diliman.
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