Staging Memory in Nana Rosa: Public Assembly, Counter-Narrative, and Artistic Activism

digital

Article

journal	COMUNICAZIONI SOCIALI
issue	COMUNICAZIONI SOCIALI - 2021 - 3. Theatres and Politics Today Lights and Shadows of a Long Relationship
title	Staging Memory in Nana Rosa: Public Assembly, Counter-Narrative, and Artistic Activism
Author	Sir Anril Tiatco
Publisher	Vita e Pensiero
format	Article \| Pdf
online since	02-2022
doi	10.26350/001200_000131
issn	0392-8667 (print) \| 1827-7969 (digital)
Write a comment for this product

€ 6.00

Ebook format Pdf readable on these devices:

Computer
with Software:
- Adobe PDF Reader
Android
iPhone/Ipad
with App:
- Adobe PDF Reader
E-Book Reader
Ibs Tolino
Kobo

Description Readers' comments
The essay interrogates how the theatre is used to affirm and to problematize the construction of historical narrative and political discourse, specifically the creation of public assembly, counter- narrative and artistic activism. Through the performance of the Filipino play Nana Rosa, it is argued that the theatre has a potential to transform personal testimonies into a radical assembly by invoking a community, whose members possess a social responsibility to recognize the precarity of each other. It also inquires the necessity of inserting scenarios in the play even if these are not officially recognized as official historical encounters. The insertion is proposed to be an artistic mode of countering the dominant narrative (i.e. Japan’s denial of the sexual abuses during the Pacific War). Finally, it investigates the relationship of the play and the local theatre genre drama simbolico, a subversive and highly political Philippine melodrama during the early 20th century. Looking at the costumes, the play is a political demonstration, protesting colonial experience and oppressive narrative. In the end, through the transformation of the assembly, the creation of the counter-narrative and the subtle revival of the drama simbolico, Nana Rosa is asserted as an example of artistic activism, featuring resistances and subversions. keywords World War II; comfort women; Philippine political theatre; trauma; remembering; drama simbolico. Author biography University of the Philippines Diliman ‒ sptiatco@up.edu.ph. Enter a comment for Staging Memory in Nana Rosa: Public Assembly, Counter-Narrative, and Artistic Activism

Description Readers' comments

The essay interrogates how the theatre is used to affirm and to problematize the construction of historical narrative and political discourse, specifically the creation of public assembly, counter- narrative and artistic activism. Through the performance of the Filipino play Nana Rosa, it is argued that the theatre has a potential to transform personal testimonies into a radical assembly by invoking a community, whose members possess a social responsibility to recognize the precarity of each other. It also inquires the necessity of inserting scenarios in the play even if these are not officially recognized as official historical encounters. The insertion is proposed to be an artistic mode of countering the dominant narrative (i.e. Japan’s denial of the sexual abuses during the Pacific War). Finally, it investigates the relationship of the play and the local theatre genre drama simbolico, a subversive and highly political Philippine melodrama during the early 20th century. Looking at the costumes, the play is a political demonstration, protesting colonial experience and oppressive narrative. In the end, through the transformation of the assembly, the creation of the counter-narrative and the subtle revival of the drama simbolico, Nana Rosa is asserted as an example of artistic activism, featuring resistances and subversions.