Eponine

Yesterday morning, me and two other friends (Jhayg and Jofil) went to the Ayala Mall - Cinema 5 to witness a one-act play entitled "Eponine."

Sounds familiar? You bet. But this one's not an adaptation from Victor Hugo's masterpiece, but rather contemporary, production-wise. All from the setting, the characters, their costumes, are set to today's lifestyle.

"Eponine" is a one-act play written by T. James Belich (aka Colorado Tolston). The adaptation presented yesterday was of director Brent Aleonar. The role of Eponine was portrayed by Reah Maria Fantonial-Bautista and Lester Cawayan as Marius.

A chance encounter in New York's Central Park brings together two strangers who, although from vastly different worlds, find themselves on the same search. What begins as a moment of kindness gives a young man the chance to fulfill a homeless girl's lifelong wish (playwriting.org/eponine.html). Eponine was a story of two individuals who, finds each other's company, and gives both of them the friendship unbound by differences, even death.

The story begins when Eponine sees Marius walking along Central Park, with no direction at all. Eponine addresses Marius' presence, and convinces him to stay with her and talk. They play a game of question-and-answer, and according to the bench's rule (which Eponine claims to be hers), one has to answer the question first before throwing in the next one. At one time, Eponine laughed so hard upon hearing Marius' name. Not surprising, since they were named both from Les Miserables' characters. ^^;

The questions unfold each other's character background, from Marius' acting prowess, even up to Eponine's past life as a pickpocketer/thief and how she was abandoned by her parents and how she betrayed the restaurant owner and how she decided to change her life, even to the point where Marius found out about Eponine's sickness and how many days she has left to live.

(For the full script (in .PDF format), you can check out Playwrighting.com.)

I could never forgive myself for missing out some parts of the play because I have to take a pee. I know the script is available on the net, but seeing it live on-stage is a lot different (and more appealing) compared to reading it.

Somehow, I could relate to the two. The feeling of being alone, being left out, being cut off from the rest of the world, being away from alot of people. It always happen to me. Yes, I do have my own friends like Marius, but there are times that I would prefer to be alone. I guess, I needed someone, a familiar face, my very own kindred spirit, who's willing to listen to me, to remember me, to accompany me in times of grief and sorrow, who will never leave me behind. I hope I can find him/her, if I haven't found him/her yet. No one wants to be alone; I don't want to be alone and be forgotten. I also want someone to remember my bench.

I would like to commend Ms. Reah, Mr. Lester, Mr. Brent, and to the whole production crew for immortalizing this masterpiece. And also to our English 51A (World Literature) teacher, Mrs. Gloria Cuevas, for giving us the chance to watch the play. I'm thankful that I didn't ignore watching it as decided before. And of course, to Mr. Belich, for such an awe-inspiring play. No words enough to describe how amazed I am with the play.

I saved a copy of the script for my own, for years to come...This is definitely one of the best plays I've ever watched, and which I reacted upon.