bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Victoria Finlay

THE devil, in the Philippines, has appeared in many guises. He has dressed in a frock coat, bearing a rosary, a cross and a sword.

  And he has appeared as a soldier with sunglasses.

  But the performers of the Bugkos - the National Centre for People's Art and Literature in the Philippines - did not blame only the Spaniard and American colonisations for the problems of their country.

  In their heavily allegorical play about a group of villagers who live through the last 500 years of their country's history, the devil also made an appearance dressed as a chameleon, bearing a wonderful thick lizard tail and representing Filipinos who turn their allegiances according to the prevailing situation, and do so for personal profit.

  It was a persuasive performance, visually and musically as well as politically, featuring original songs that combined folk and popular music, with lyrics about the struggles of Filipino people against the triple ills of feudalism, bureaucracy and imperialism.

  When it is performed in the Philippines later this month, it is sure to stir up strong feelings.

  But if Bugkos is to achieve its aim of spreading the message internationally, using this piece which has already travelled to Seoul and Taiwan before Hong Kong, then they need to have a greater awareness of the linguistic needs of their audiences.

  The Fringe Festival programme promised that this performance would be in English-Tagalog.

  Unfortunately, the players had omitted the English. Even the programme notes were in Chinese only.

  This meant that, for most of the non-Filipino members of the audience, the message - of oppression and struggle, and of national pride - was partly obscured until the discussion period, held in English and Cantonese at the end.

  Political allegory is all very well - seeing a soldier attacking a young woman represents the brutalisation of the military whatever language you use - but inevitably the subtleties of the metaphor are going to be lost in non-translation. Asdang: A People Rising, Bugkos Philippines, Sheung Wan Civic Centre Theatre, January 17. Fringe Festival 



Powerful message fails in translation