‘Dagitab’ review: A play of lingering words and unspoken wants

Agot Isidro and Elijah Canlas in 'Dagitab.' Photo by Yan Caringal from Agot Isidro's Facebook page

Married for 27 years now, Jimmy (Jojit Lorenzo) and Issey (Agot Isidro) Tolentino are both writers and professors based in the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Jimmy was about to wrap up a book he has spent many years researching and writing. Issey is a panelist on a writers workshop in Mt. Makiling for students, the participants of which included her 17-year-old godson and writing prodigy, Gab Atienza (Elijah Canlas). 

The original "Dagitab" was a movie written and directed by Giancarlo Abrahan, which premiered in the New Breed category of the Cinemalaya Film Festival of 2014. It starred veteran character actors Nonie Buencamino as Jimmy and Eula Valdez as Issey, with Martin del Rosario as Gab. During the awards night, it won Best Director and Screenplay for Abrahan, and Best Actress for Valdez, but lost the Best Picture prize to "Bwaya." 

I've seen Jojit Lorenzo and Agot Isidro essay difficult roles with long complex lines on stage before in "Changing Partners" (2016) and now, this one. They both had a field day portraying the eccentricities of UP professors and Palanca-winning writers. As Lorenzo's Jimmy wrestled with an insecure wife and the memory of his late rebel ex-love Lorena (Samantha Samarita), Isidro's Issey wrestled with an obsessive husband and an unexpectedly intense teenage infatuation. She also talked to the audience directly, calling us as her "yellow p*tas," as we wore paper hats given to us before the show.  

Agot Isidro and Jojit Lorenzo in 'Dagitab.' Photo by Yan Caringal from Agot Isidro's Facebook page

I have seen Elijah Canlas in several indie films, from "Kalel 15" (2020) to "About Us But Not About Us" (2022), where he won acclaim and awards for his portrayals of problematic young men. This is the first time I saw him act on stage, but this was not his first play. Canlas' Gab was vulnerable and impressionable, torn between an irresistible crush on his hot ninang, and an inexplicable admiration for his magnetic, self-assured roommate, a poet and UP maximum residency rule poster boy Angelo (Benedix Ramos, in his first straight play), a character given more prominence in the play than the film.

Even as a film, the main star of "Dagitab" was its screenplay, with its "wry humor and lingering unhappiness," as I wrote in my original review. Certainly, the script of this play version, as adapted by Guelan Luarca, remains to be its pride and glory. 

Here, as in other plays by Luarca, you really need to hang on to every word so as not too miss any juicy eloquent wordplay as his lines shuttled from English to Filipino. With his recent "3 Upuan" and "Nagkatuwaan sa Tahanang Ito," Luarca has certainly carved his niche with these deeply impassioned plays that convey heavy emotions of loneliness and loss. 

Lorenzo, Isidro, Samarita, Canlas and Ramos at their curtain call. Author's photo

"Dagitab" runs only for two weekends July 5, 6, 12, 13 with shows at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. held at the Old Comm Black Box, Ateneo de Manila.

This review was originally published in the author's blog, “Fred Said.”