Takas

The writing of Playwright Bienvenido M. Noriega broke artistic ground in the voices of the characters he presented. In his play – “TAKAS”, which won a prize in the 1980 Cultural Center of the Philippines playwriting contest, he depicted more directly the myriad forms of exile. The play was about friendship between a Vietnamese refugee who comes to shore and the Filipino boy whose family takes in the stranger. In no time, the boy discovers that he too is a stranger in his own country.

‘”By presenting characters who are out of place and at the same time, refusing an easy way out for their dilemma, Noriega ennobles the plight and struggle of the Filipino. He takes an insider’s point of view to depict outsiders’ lives, and thus is able to confront, even satirize, every facet of Filipino life without despair nor disdain”