HUMANITIES
REACTION PAPER
AR 508
In an inventive and imaginative way, I never knew Id fall for a musical play after
watching such after how many years. Juan Luna, the famous painter of The Spoliarium
was the main character of Obra ni Juan and the PhilStagers executed his life so well in
such a creative way. They showed Philippine Revolution from the point of view of a
respected heroic protagonist, Juan Luna. The first part of the play was shown by Juan
In my own perspective, I also thought it was just Juan Lunas friend only to find out
on the latter part that it was not, it was his other self. It was the only time I realized that
he was suffering from some serious condition of having a split personality which is
condition wherein a person's identity is fragmented into two or more distinct personality
states.
People with this rare condition are often victims of severe abuse. The next exciting
part of the play was Luna being put into the spotlight of being famous because of his
paintings, there it showed again the disturbed psyche of Juan Luna as he was arguing
with himself while doing the paintings and they executed how he has two sides of a story
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for each painting in both celebratory and tragic way. In that part, I was still confused about
the story that it was his other self but the approach of the play made me gain a unique
understanding of the artist and his state of mind. Atty. Tanada, played the other self of
Juan Luna and also the director, was able to create an inventive manner of expressing
Patrick Libao as Juan Luna 1 also played a good acting on the play as he executed
everything on point. The next part of the play was when he was with his friends, as I think,
wouldnt be complete without them in it. Namely, Marcelo Del Pilar, Jose Rizal, Trinidad
They showed a kind of brotherhood that existed during Spanish colonization. I think
it was also amazing on how they played well to thrill the audience in a humorous and witty
way. Jose Rizal also captured my attention since the play also showed his involvement
to different girls namely Leonor and Nellie Boustead and how he was in a love triangle
with General Antonio Luna. This side story also added a spice to the main Juan Luna
thread. It is telling that a girl, Nellie Boustead, which came between their friendship that
could not thrive to how important brotherhood is and to accept who Nellie wants to be
together with. I think the Actress projected so well that even the audience would fall over
her projecting so well that expresses how the two heroes are crazy about her.
The next part of the play was one of my favorite scenes, it was their own execution
of how Juan Luna murdered his wife Paz and his mother-in-law, Juliana. Atty. Tanada as
the director stages the scene through a doorway prop between them. The creepy and
loud music in this scene gave the audience and me as being one of the audience to have
It was then the part of the play where Juan Luna decides to fix himself and help
his country for real and through his own way. Together with General Luna and Jose Rizal
he gets back to his own country. However, it saddened me that Marcelo Del Pilar was not
able to die in his own country from suffering tuberculosis. This part where Juan Luna
together with (KKK) Andres Bonifacio was a part of the climax. It was an open minding
play that showed how our heroes fought, grieved, sacrificed their loved ones, for the hope
At the end of the Play, it was only then that I knew that the Attorney written on the
ticket as the Director was also a part of the play who executed Juan Luna 2. It was a
shocking moment since he has garnered a number of awards and yet he has a good
Through his speech, it was then that I realized what the play was trying to say.
They were trying to express the untold stories of the past that were never taught at the
four sides of the classroom. That more than just a play, they were showing the untold
story of a Filipino hero namely Juan Luna. They wanted to show what Juan Luna really
wanted to show through his paintings. He stated at the end the true meaning and value
of the The Parisian Life as not just a lady sitting in a caf but rather holding a message
He used this impressionist painting as a gun, that it was about the lady-shaped
through an inverted shape of Philippines and that the two people were Jose Rizal and
General Luna talking and that there was a foreigner listening to their plans.
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He also stated the meaning of the Spoliarium as not just a death scene of the
Roman people but a portrait of how foreigners were dragging the Philippines and how
they want to benefit from it. These kind of plays are the ones Filipinos should watch more
since there are so many revisions from different historians, so watching a play like this