Sining Banwa 

SURIYAW

 

The 20-minute performance is a collection of five (5) short performance pieces exploring the issue of mining in the region. “Suriyáw” is a Bikol term translated as “scream”. Ironically, the performance is done silently. Five performance artists do not speak a single line. The whole performance is an interaction between projected videos and photographs, the performance artists and the audience, all done in silence. The concepts of time, space and being will be explored. 

 

It is a non-mimetic form of performance. No particular characters to study. No acting to work on.  There will be no particular storyline to follow yet there is a rising intensity of the interweaving visual and action dealing with issues emanating from the mining problem such as health, poverty, environmental degradation and militarization.

 

The performance pieces are sometimes light, sometimes bold and daring, sometimes haunting. The objective is to let the audience sympathize with the voiceless, madangog an mga tuninong na suriyáw kan daga buda kan mga tawo – to let them hear the silent scream of the soil and of the people.