We managed to catch the original About Us But Not About Us movie at an actual cinema in April 2023, mainly because I'm a big Gameboys fan and was eager to see what Elijah Canlas would bring to the screen. It's one of the best things to come out of Gameboys, and I've been trying to follow his career as best as I can because he's a really talented actor. He was rather amazing in this movie and played off Romnick Sarmenta really well. That movie was very stressful, but quite well done.
I wasn't sure what to make of the decision to adapt this movie into a stage play, but it's not a total surprise either. Tobie and I talked extensively about how the movie felt like a play since it was just two characters in a single space. My initial hesitation was more about the play just rehashing the movie and not tackling new ground. Given that I was also pretty busy in Q1 of this year when the play was first staged, we ended up skipping the initial run due to scheduling constraints.
With news of the play getting another run, this is also the final run involving Romnick Sarmenta, Elijah Canlas, and Epy Quizon. So that made trying to catch it even more important, so I made some serious efforts to squeeze it into our October schedule. I was still in Singapore when I booked our tickets, and I was rather counting the days until this show date.
The play blew our minds. Tobie and I have watched a number of productions together, and this was definitely one that amazed both of us. From start to finish, you could tell how much thought had gone into this production. Turning Marcus into a full character was a brilliant move that really sets this production apart from the movie that inspired it. Casting Epy Quizon was an inspired choice because he brings so much passion and emotion to the production, which contrasts sharply with the cooler acting by Romnick (Eric) and Elijah (Lancelot). Then having Marcus as another character means that flashbacks between Eric and Marcus take on a whole new level as they argue over Lancelot at the table. Elijah really does great face acting (you get what I mean), and you can see him reacting to Eric's retelling, but it also looks like he's reacting directly to Marcus. Choices like these eliminated the need for a more elaborate set or a larger cast, as the actors really bring the story to life, and it's up to the audience to embrace the theater of the mind.
The stage is largely bare and yet does so much for the story. It's the restaurant where Eric and Lancelot meet, but the side is also the condo where Eric has Lancelot stay. The backstage becomes visible under the right lighting to act as a marker for the place that Eric and Marcus share, but it's also a vaccination center, or it's the smoking area outside the restaurant. Tobie and I will continue to dissect this play in the weeks to come because there are so many little things to celebrate, given how they deliver so much meaning when used in the scenes correctly. I had a vague idea of how the turntable might be used (and how the heck did they decide to use a turntable at all?), but I was still surprised by how it was leveraged in some scenes. Plus, that thing spun pretty fast at times.
And there are the even smaller things that theater nerds like me obsess about, like the fact that Romnick and Elijah actually ate and drank on stage throughout a fair amount of the play, and yet some of those eating choices still played into later scenes, because of course they did. I swear, it's crazy to consider all the little details the team considered for this production because Tobie and I had so much to unpack.
(Plus the personal Easter egg that Lancelot's bag was a 9th Anniversary Edition Alpaka Bravo Backpack.)
My only regret is that we didn't have the time to stay for the meet and greet after the show. At the same time, I'm always so shy about these things, as I don't want to bother the cast after all the hard work needed to bring the play to life. So I finally broke my personal rule related to absolutely no photos during the play (I'm old school that way), and gave in to take a few snaps during curtain call because I wanted to capture the moment somehow. And I think I'd probably make a total fool of myself if I actually interacted with Elijah Canlas. He's so amazingly talented! And his performance in this play just reinforces that fact. He's truly an actor to watch, and I hope we get to catch him on stage again somehow.
About Us But Not About Us was pretty much a master class in why theater is a form of magic all on its own. You don't need crazy budgets or overly elaborate sets to tell an amazing story. All you need is vision and some very talented actors, a lot of care and consideration in how to bring all that together. This production had all that in spades and then some. It's definitely one of the best stage plays we've seen in quite a while - including comparisons to international touring productions.
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