After a five-year hiatus, multi-awarded Filipino actress Dolly de Leon is making a highly anticipated return to the stage with the wordless play Request sa Radyo.
Debuting this Mental Health Awareness Month of October at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Makati City, Request sa Radyo is a Filipino adaptation of Franz Xaver Kroetz’s 1973 German masterpiece Wunschkonzert. Through this silent yet powerful performance, de Leon champions mental health awareness, delivering a deeply moving portrayal that resonates with audiences.
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The show captures “the poignant solitude of a woman through her meticulous evening routine. As she navigates her quiet, solitary life, her actions and her favorite radio program reveal the profound loneliness and yearning for connection that lies beneath.”
De Leon will perform the solo piece, with alternating schedules performances with fellow world-renowned actress Lea Salonga.
In an intimate conversation with the media last October 7, de Leon shared how much she misses setting foot and performing on stage again.
“Sobrang na-miss. Iba ang feeling pag nasa theater. Actually, nu’ng umapak ako dito sa Samsung Performing Arts Theater, grabe ’yong feeling ng nostalgia (I missed the theater so much. There’s a different feeling when you’re in the theater. Actually, when I stepped into the Samsung Performing Arts Theater, the feeling of nostalgia was overwhelming),” the internationally acclaimed Filipino actress shared.
“Halos mangiyakngiyak ako na makabalik. Saka ’yong tumayo du’n sa wings at maghintay na sasampa sa stage, ibang klaseng feeling (I was teary-eyed. And standing there in the wings, waiting to go on stage, is a completely different feeling),” she added.
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The actress also said that she accepted the project right away when it was offered to her by the producers.
“When he [Clint Ramos, producer and multi-awarded costume designer] proposed it, I immediately said yes without consulting my team or anyone. I just knew I wanted to do it, immediately… I said yes right away without question,” de Leon recalled.
Moreover, the theater and movie star said that she became intrigued by the entire play without any lines or dialogue.
“I was intrigued by it because it was a wordless play. I’ve never done a wordless play ever in my entire life. So it was a new experience for me. By that alone, I was already interested in doing it, and also because it talks about mental health. Mental health is a very important issue for me,” she stressed.
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Despite being a theater veteran, de Leon admitted that the whole show is a challenge for her.
“[It is] very challenging. Ang hirap (It’s hard). Sobrang hirap in terms of remembering what to do onstage. I have nothing to remind me of what to do next. Solely dependent on a structure talaga that was adopted by Clint, that was provided by him. That area is so hard,” the actress confessed.
“And also because it’s a very technical play, I’m not working alone. I’m working with sound cues, I’m working with light cues. I’m working with a rice cooker. I’m working with so many things that shape the play,” she went on.
“So it’s not easy. It’s really hard especially since I’ve never done anything like this before. Nahihirapan ako.”
However, she pointed out that the play is not always about the challenge, but the reward as well.
“The reward is reaching out to people and providing awareness about mental health and about how people around us… They may appear to look happy and okay but it doesn’t mean that they are. All of us carry something inside that we hide from other people,” she shared.
“The hope is that it opens people’s eyes about being sensitive toward other people and assuming the worst about them. If you will, you know, assuming that everyone is going through something, that we need to have a little empathy, sensitivity, and kindness so that we make everyone’s lives livable.”
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Since she considers herself an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) with projects and acting jobs abroad, de Leon said she could relate so much to her character, an OFW living alone in New York City.
“I have a very strong connection to Mrs. Reyes in many, many ways. I felt loneliness, I felt isolation, I felt being an outsider, a minority. I felt struggling financially in this very capitalistic world, consumer-centric world,” the Golden Globes and BAFTAs nominee said.
“In many, many ways I can relate to her except the difference between us is [that] she kind of has it worse because she doesn’t have children. She doesn’t really have a spouse. Well, I don’t have a spouse but I mean, she doesn’t have an immediate family to support her. So mas mahirap ’yong disposition n’ya compared to me,” she added.
“To be able to do Request sa Radyo, to be able to play Mrs. Reyes for me, it’s cathartic. It’s a way for me to release all the pain and frustration and solitude of working alone, living alone in a foreign land.”
She then gave her observations about the OFWs she met while working abroad.
“They’re very happy people, actually. But it’s really the way they present themselves. But if you talk to them about their daily lives and the struggles that they have, that’s when the layers come off slowly, piece by piece, and then you see the core of their being,” she said.
“They’re very lonely people and they’re really struggling with the lifestyle that they have. But the front that they put up in the beginning is very cheerful and pleasant and happy. Kasi that’s how we were raised, ’di ba, as Filipinos na kailangan matatag ka, kailangan masayahin ka, kailangan pinagtatawanan mo lang ’yong mga problema mo (You need to be strong, you need to be cheerful, you don’t have to take your problems seriously).
“Pero deep inside talagang they’re going through a lot of pain, suffering and figuring out how to make more money, how to put food on the table to the point na kinakalimutan (setting aside) na nila ’yong loneliness kasi that shouldn’t get in the way of their lives,” the actress concluded.
Produced by Tony Winner Clint Ramos, Director Bobby Garcia, and Christopher Mohnani (Ayala Land), Request sa Radyo will premier on October 10, 2024, and will run until October 20 at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Makati City.
For tickets, contact 0917-550-6997 / 0999-954-5922 or email tickets@ticketworld.com.ph.
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