Patriot

Patriot

philippine studies
Ateneo de Manila University • Loyola Heights, Quezon City • 1108 Philippines

Philippine Political Theater: 1946-1985

Pamela Del Rosario Castrillo
Philippine Studies vol. 42, no. 4 (1994): 528–538
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Fri June 27 13:30:20 2008

Philippine Political Theater: 19461985
Pamela del Rosario Castnllo

This article briefly reviews Philippine political theater, a theater which
emerged in the early 1900s. This early revolutionary drama was called
"seditious" by the American colonial power. More recent representations of this form were the street theater of the late 1960s and the
early 1970s. The martial law years (1973 to the 1980s) saw the
development of a vigorous and radical mix of traditional, transformed
and adopted theater forms, most of which were political in one way
or another.
Political theater in the Philippines had its roots in the Revolutionary Theater of 1900-1903 which arose when imperial power in the
Philippines changed guard in 1898 after a stage-managed SpanishAmerican War. The Filipinos expressed their liberation aspirations not
only in armed struggle but also in cultural action.
The drama (prose play), which was part of the dominant culture
during the Spanish colonial period (1521-1898), was refunctioned in
the service of the revolution. A song and dance romantic drama with
mild social comment and...

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