Where is the Bata in Batang Mujahideen?

February is love month and arts month. That is why, the hubby and I found ourselves at the Cultural Center of the Philippines yesterday for the premiere of Batang Mujahideen. Super thanks to Teacher Ana Bacudio for making this Saturdate possible. 

Here now are my thoughts on the play.

It was my first time to watch experimental theatre. It was a new experience for me and I liked it. Batang Mujahideen is a play by Malou Jacob and Guelan Valera-Luarca directs and added text to the ten year old script. 

Tanghalang Pilipino’s staging of Batang Mujahideen brings in the new format of storytelling and fuses it with the old. It begins with a ritual and an oral telling of a Yakan folk story and moves on to a narrative of the lives of the characters like a documentary. There is mimicry and play through the use of puppets instead of real children. This, however, diffused the emotional weight of the issue on child soldiers. What could have been a compelling story of a child warrior became a cognitive and intellectual piece challenging the audience to ponder on the history of religious wars between Muslims and Christians. 

Overall, I admire and recognise the art and the well thought out production of Batang Mujahideen. Kudos to Tanghalang Pilipino for bravely and courageously portraying the lives of Filipinos caught in the continuing conflict in Mindanao particularly the Indigenous Peoples, Christians and Muslims alike.