“Dekada ‘70″ The Musical, A Personal Review

“Dekada ’70” is a musical by Pat Valera — a playwright and director whose play has changed my perspective as a dramatic writer. Dekada ’70  is adapted from a book of the same title by Lualhati Bautista. The setting is the 1970’s Martial Law in the Philippines administered by President Marcos to oppose rising communist forces in the country, ultimately confiscating the freedom of press and removing the writ of habaeas corpus wherein the body of the defendant is needed to be present in court for ruling. This seizure of the writ resulted to imprisoned innocents, unjust torture in prisons, and even extrajudicial killings.

The book was one of the required reading materials when I was in the ninth grade. My teacher in the subject Filipino discussed this very passionately as she was very fond of the author, Lualhati Bautista, who happened to be a feminist herself. But I was never fully immersed with the material until two years later when I and my club, the Pamulatan Drama Club, watched the musical adaptation in the Ateneo de Manila University’s Areté. 

It was through the adaptation that I was able to realize three things. First: If I want to make meaningful stories, I have to listen to the stories of others. The world is full of people, and these people experience the same phenomena in their own way. The decade of the 1970’s may be depicted as a time of youth — as per the teenage kids disco-dancing in the play; a time of violence and grief — as per the victims of extrajudicial killings in the musical; or a time for social action and revolution — as per the characters who used their craft and intellect to rebel against the oppression of the government. 

This leads me to the second realization is how to create characters and their respective stories. It is true that everyone in this world is important — no matter what race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or etcetera. Each action, whether little or small, can still leave an impact to the development or downfall of society. It is only right for us to question insidious aspects from the patriarchal structure of the household to other institutions, because these questions can sometimes ultimately become the solution to societal problems.

The act of questioning and finding solutions can be seen in history — when people, whether illiterate or educated — become conscious of their right. Third realization: in order for a story to stay stuck in an audience, you have to make them question and leave them to find the answer themselves. Because the audience has the right to do so. 

After the show, I was able to meet Pat Valera. I asked him what advice he would give to aspiring dramatists. He replied: “Fail”. I found this true. I’ve had my fair share of failures through my writing. But these failures add meaning to my craft, explore my character as a writer, and makes me a better person through the stories I am able to tell.