swordshines10: francis matheu: on the rebound

francis: physically REBOUNDING

FRANCIS: EXPERIMENTING AS AN ACTOR

REBOUNDS. that's what's been happening lately on the life of one good theater actor by the name of Francis Matheu. Rebounds, in the sense that he's out to do a lot more, change strategies, set changes and moving on FORWARD.

Rebounds, too, in the sense that he's rediscovering his works, reinventing his self, transforming and BECOMING.

Just like now, in his come-back for the play KANSER 2017: THE NOVEL by Gantimpala Theater Foundation, he's out to portray an entirely different but more meaningful character. If last year he played the role of ELIAS in the mild musical version of the classic play, this time, there's a big TURN AROUND.

"I am portraying the character of Padre Damaso!", Francis to a blogger. "And I am so happy that direk Frannie Zamora entrusted me for this role. And in order for me to effectively deliver the role, I went out of my way to study the ways and means of old priests living back then in the 18th century. I even went to the corner stones of the Walls in Intramuros to feel the jibe and the aura of what was it like at that period of time. It was the Spanish occupation that our play Kanser was set in. So I imagined and put myself in that situation- that's how I really work and internalized for this great character of Padre Damaso."

And that's the kind of REBOUND we badly wanted for Francis. A great REBOUND, that is. In case Francis didn't know yet, the role of Padre Damaso was very much wanted by other veteran actors. Vince Tanada of Philippine Stagers Foundation wanted to portray that role, alongside with Norman Penaflorinda and others. But direk Frannie Zamora opted Francis to portray the role of Padre Damaso, because he knew, how experimental Francis could be.

"This play is the history of Filipino people", Francis suddenly changed the topic and reaction. "It's about displacement and making Filipinos the second class citizens of their own country. I guess, it's such an honor for me to be a part of this revolutionary play written by Dr. Jose Rizal in his book Noli Me Tangere and transformed into a play by playwright Jomar Fleras. Because you see, one of my main crusades now is to establish the true Filipino identity."

YES. That's why now, on Francis' own theater group called the TwinBill Theater Company, Filipiniana motiff is on the offspring.

"We're now preaparing a lot for our next theater season at Twin Bill", Francis continued saying. "It's gonna be a new brand for our company. A new process, too. And we're gonna be having a soft launching about it soon. Our teaser starts with the letter P".

"P" as in PILIPINO? Your gues is as good as ours. But as of press time, Francis is not yet revealing anything.

"All I can say is, it's a brand that would cater to Filipino plays for Twin Bill theater production", Francis said in the end. "A total rebound from twin Bill has been offering in the past- like our socially-relevant plays. I want the Filipino culture to be the center of our brand this time around."

Yup, we say again and again. Francis Matheu is on the REBOUND....

Amidst

FOREVER.