What's the flava?

There could be several reasons why I had difficulty relating to the featured works in Set E or Banyaga Twinbill of Virgin Labfest 6. I've listed them down. But as I thought more about each reason, I'd have "then-again" ponders, which tell me that one reason is not entirely the whole truth behind my difficulty.

Reason 1: They're foreign. The plays, Sundan Natin Si Eversan (Shungiku Uchida) and 3some (Joned Suryatmoko), were penned by foreigners. Then again, Eversan was actually about Filipino migrant workers, and the student activism glory days relived in 3some was not too different from how it was when I was in college.

Reason 2: There's a generation gap. The language of manga, allegedly one of Eversan's playwright's expertise, is not something I grew up with. Then again, my hunny (who's older than I am) was able to orient me on anime and manga language, him being within professional provenance of the animation industry. While not all the time, I did get what many visual messages meant.

Reason 3: I'm generally conservative. While not totally naive about threesome encounters (once, just once!), the set-up context in Suryatmoko's work confounded me. I wore the duncecap in defensive mode: I understood the stake-claiming and bragging about one's glory days of fighting the system, but in this scene, what was all the exchange for? Foreplay? I couldn't hear the sexual undertone. Maybe it's because of...

Reason 4: I'm not heterosexual. Who knows what's going on in the mind of this straight dude cruising in the Internet for a male third wheel; he's plain weird, said I, proud homeowner in the gay ghetto. Then again, I did get the gender sub-text of the emasculating sex-libbed female (just got slightly miffed that empowered female sexuality still had to be visualized as cigarette-smoking, red-lipped, loudly confrontational, all-over-the-place.)

I did gain insight about coming out heterosexual. I appreciated problematizing the popular notion about straights never having to come out. Sexual orientation is a world of personal meaning regardless. I also marveled at the quiet composure of a straight male character over his knowledge of a partner's infidelities - it's usually a role assigned to the suffering wife.

Even so, Banyaga Twinbill, in the end was like some exotically conjured hotel gourmet: it has unique flavor appeal but lacked the sweetness, saltiness or MSG-laced additive, which may be unhealthy but chemically inducing. Maybe there's a reason five: I'm really just an amateur with this theater stuff.

P.S. There is actually reason six: from time to time I got distracted, thanks to Eon's swooning and BFF confessed it here.