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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Roe,d Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
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75-25,161 HERNANDEZ, Tomas Capatan, 1946THE EME'RGOCE OF MJDERN DRAMA IN
THE PHILIPPINES (1898-1912) AND ITS SOCIAL, POLITlCAL,CULWRAL, DRAMATIC AND THFATRICAL BACKGROUND. .
University of Hawaii, Ph.D., 1975 Theater
Xerox University Microfilms,
@
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
1975
TOMAS CAPATAN HERNANDEZ
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN DRAMA IN THE PHILIPPINES (1898-1912) AND ITS SOCIAL, POLITICAL, CULTURAL, DRAMATIC AND THEATRICAL BACKGROUND
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN DRAMA AND THEATRE MAY 1975
By Tomas capatan Hernandez
Dissertation Committee: Bernard F. Dukore, Chairman James R. Brandon Truong Buu Lam Edward A. Langhans Teresita V. Ramos
ABSTRACT The social, political, cultural, dramatic and theatrical factors which contributed to the emergence of modern Filipino drama date back to the latter half of the nineteenth century.
They achieved
their maximal impact during the Revolution against Spain in 1896 and the subsequent American occupation of the Philippines in 1898.
By
1898, modern Filipino drama had been born, and by 1912, it was established.
Before the Revolution, one major form of native drama
which appealed exclusively to the masses flourished. kumedya or
~-moro,
This was the
an acculturated form of the Spanish comedia,
metrical romance, and danza de moros introduced as early as 1565.
~
cristianos which the Spaniards
A vernacular play in verse, the kumedya
or moro-moro dramatized the conflict between Christians and Muslims
----
which, as the kumedya' s theatrical highlight, was expressed in choreographed stage battles.
Around this conflict revolved a romantic
plot which featured exotic characters entangled in fantastic situations. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Spanish theatrical artists introduced then-current dramatic forms, notably the Spanish zarzuela, to the bourgeois theatre in Manila, whose audience included the nascent middle class.
The desire of this native bourgeoisie to
attain urbanity in the Spanish manner led them to look down upon the kumedya and to patronize imported Spanish plays and other foreign entertainments which sustained the bourgeois theatre in Manila.
More-
over, in the 1880's, the ilustrados, a group of disaffected middleclass intellectuals, created a body of propagandistic writings that
iv initiated the nationalistic tradition in Philippine literature. Engendered by the ilustrados, nationalism culminated in a revolt of the masses. The Revolution was the climax of the social, political, cultural, dramatic and theatrical processes which began in the 1850's, and which served as catalytic forces in the eventual birth of modern Filipino drama.
The early manifestations of this drama include anti-colonialist
plays, both musical and non-musical; native zarzuelas on domestic J
themes; and domestic, non-musical plays--all in the vernacular. Thematically, anti-Spanish,
~~en
anti-American plays were radically
different from the kumedya, which featured romantic complications and religious conflicts.
The same nationalistic impulses that led to the
Revolution also prompted native playwrights to adopt the zarzuela as a more appropriate native drama than the kumedya, which they viewed as a reflection of the intellectual repression characteristic of Spanish colonial rule.
Through the zarzuela, these playwrights sought to
raise the vernacular to a comparable level of prestige as Spanish. Vernacular prose dialogue brought domestic, non-musical plays closer to everyday reality than the kumedya with its archaic verses.
Moreover,
the contemporary situations and local characters of these domestic plays were more recognizably Filipino to the native audience than the fantastic situations and exotic characters of the kumedya. The early manifestations of modern Filipino drama displayed dramaturgical shortcomings as loose structure, obvious contrivances, and the constant use of deus
~machina;
and their characters, despite
their modern costumes, were reminiscent of the kumedya's lovers and villains.
Nonetheless, early modern Filipino plays offered native
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audiences an alternative to the thoroughly romantic and escapist attitude of the kumedya:
that of an immediate, though perhaps feeble,
confrontation with the actualities of Philippine society at the turn of the twentieth century.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT. • • • •
iii
LIST OF TABLES ••
• • viii
LIST OF FIGURES •
ix
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER II
PRE-MODERN FILIPINO DRAMA •
14
The The The The
Kumedya and Indigenous Elements • Kumedya and Foreign Elements. • Characteristics of the Kurnedya. • • • • • • Audience of the Kurnedya • • • • • •
15 18 25 35
BACKGROUNDS OF MODERN FILIPINO DRAMA: PERIOD BEFORE THE REVOLUTION. • • •••••
40
CHAPTER III
The Native Bourgeoisie •• The Birth of Nationalism. The Bourgeois Theatre CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
1
40 42 49
BACKGROUNDS OF MODERN FILIPINO DRAMA: PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION • • • • • • •
74
Historical and Political Background. Social and Cultural Background • • • Dramatic and Theatrical Background. •
74 78 86
EARLY MODERN FILIPINO PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS • •
88
Anti-Colonialist Plays: Anti-Spanish • • • • • Rernigio: Malaya • • • • • • • • • Francisco: Ang Katipunan • • • • • Burgos: ~ la ~ :i.. la espada. • • Palisoc: Say Lirnan ~ Naketket, Parnpinsiwan. Reyes: Walang Sugat • • • • • • • • • Other Anti-Spanish Plays • • • • • • Anti-Colonialist Plays: Anti-American. CruZ: Hindi ~ Patay. • • • • • •• Abad: Tanikalang Guinto • • • • • • • Tolentino: Kahapon, Ngayon, ~ Bukas • • • • • • Other Anti-American Plays • • • • • • The Staging of Anti-Colonialist Plays •
90 90 94
98 102 105 109 110 113 115 121 132 140
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