Sintang Dalisay (Pure Love), the award-winning Filipino adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, will be staged on 8 April 2017 at the UP Asian Center.
It is based on the awit “Ang Sintang Dalisay ni Julieta at Romeo” by G.D. Roke and on Rolando S. Tinio’s translation of “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare.
The adaptation is set in an imaginary Muslim community in the Philippines, with the Mustaphas and the Kalimuddins as two prominent families mired in an age-old hatred for each other. Caught in this family strife are Rashiddin and Jamila, two lovers who get themselves secretly married but are forced to separate from each other after Rashiddin, in self-defense, slays a member of the Kalimuddin clan.
A demand for justice, Rashiddin’s exile to Dapitan, a clandestine tryst between the two lovers, a missing letter and a scheme involving poisonous potions that goes awry culminate in the death of the lovers and the reconciliation of the two families smothered in grief and regret.
Sintang Dalisay, which won the Aliw Awards for Best Production in 2012 and received critical acclaim in three international festivals, is a collaborative work between Sama-Bajau Muslim and Christian artists.
It seeks to celebrate the dance tradition of the marginalized Sama people and instill pride in a local tradition that over the years has established cultural links not only in Southeast Asia but in many parts of the world.
Two shows are scheduled at the GT Toyota Auditorium of the UP Asian Center: one at 2 p.m. and another at 7 p. m.
For questions, please contact Louise Sanchez at 920-3535/981-8500 local 3580 or email [email protected].
Download the fact sheet here.
