Lea Salonga in a scene from 'Request sa Radyo.' Sandro Paredes/Request Sa Radyo 

“All the lonely people
 Where do they all come from?”

Although Eleonor Rigby is not part of the all-OPM playlist of "Request sa Radyo," this line from this sad, sad Beatles song kept ringing in our ears long after actress Lea Salonga has taken a bow and acknowledged a standing ovation from the audience. 

Isolation and aloneness have become all too familiar to humankind of late. The COVID-19 pandemic all the more forced solitude upon us, separating us from the simple, everyday human contact we often took for granted.

But being alone doesn’t always mean being lonely. Just as many are negatively affected by the alarming rise of chronic isolation and its devastating impact on both mental and physical health, there are also those who have come to appreciate the stillness of mind and spirit, finding solace in the fleeting comfort of music, memory, and the mundane things.

“Request sa Radyo,” a wordless play inspired by Franz Xaver Kroetz’s "Request Concert," becomes even more resonant in the context of active aloneness and the magical experience of solitude. With 20 performances from October 10 to 20, at the Samsung Performing Arts Theatre in Makati City, "Request sa Radyo" is alternately topbilled by Tony and Olivier winner Salonga and Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee Dolly De Leon, two of the most internationally celebrated actors of their generation.
 
Co-produced, stage and costume designed by Tony Award-winning creative visionary Clint Ramos, and directed by Bobby Garcia, this revolutionary piece is described as a “hybrid of theater and performance art.”
 
We caught Lea Salonga’s Wednesday night preview performance, anticipating wildly how a world-class singer and a known articulate talker would attack a non-singing and non-speaking role. And she more than aced it. 

Lea Salonga in a scene from 'Request sa Radyo.' Sandro Paredes/Request Sa Radyo 

In this production, Salonga’s nameless character literally silently embodies the life of an ordinary Filipina health worker in New York City, seemingly tired from work, returning to her tiny apartment to go about her evening routine – cooking for one, setting a place for one on the dining table, entertaining herself with a hobby and listening to “music from the motherland” on the radio, doing her laundry and skin care, preparing for bed, trying to sleep alone, unsleep alone, and then deciding to go back to a deeper “sleep” alone. 

Salonga captured the painful solitude that many, particularly Filipino women working abroad, have been enduring for years. Her character and the absence of dialogue effectively mirrored the suffocating silence of being alone, where every day felt the same and the absence of human connection becomes constant, even oppressive.

This decade’s pandemic only intensified it but this sense of isolation for many OFWs has long been a reality. Many are cut off from their families and find themselves in unfamiliar countries with little to no social support. Salonga’s character becomes a powerful symbol of this experience, as her silence spoke loudly to the collective isolation felt by many across the world.

Yet, there is one thing that offers a fleeting sense of comfort -- music. Music from home is one of the few remaining ties to culture, families, and sense of belonging. The modern OPM playlist chosen for this production is familiar and comforting -- among them Juan Karlos’ “Buwan,” Ben&Ben’s “Leaves,” and Ice Seguerra’s “Pagdating ng Panahon” -- offering a respite for the character to navigate the deep well of isolation. The character even mimicked Filipino singer Bamboo while singing his signature song “Hallelujah,” showing that she too knows how to have fun, albeit alone.

In "Request sa Radyo," we see the effects of isolation subtly conveyed through the character’s face and movements— she looked exasperated even just doing the menial task of washing her face or taking a pee; her haphazard layering of clothes showed how her body carries the weight of her solitude, her face reflected the quiet emotional toll of being alone for too long. 

The audience saw all these as the stage is designed like a square sunk island where people could see and interpret what’s going onstage, depending on their vantage point. We were seated where she faced us while washing her face, brushing her teeth and doing laundry, with real water coming out of the faucet. Another friend was seated where he could see the character upfront cooking rice, with actual steam coming from the cooker. A friend was seated right behind the toilet bowl and could see and hear the character taking a pee, wiping, and flushing the bowl!  It is easy to both imagine and miss some clues and references with such a set-up, but it is up to the audience to read their own story through them.

Lea Salonga in a scene from 'Request sa Radyo.' Sandro Paredes/Request Sa Radyo 

Salonga’s masterful portrayal invites us to watch with this discomfort and reflect on the ways isolation has reshaped us as a people. Most often, it is really not a choice, and there are many instances that it ends sadly and badly, silently. But this play can also serve as a poignant reminder of the vital importance of connection, of hope, especially in a world where aloneness has become all too common.

"Request sa Radyo" runs from October 10 to 20 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati.