With climate change worsening, people growing more complacent about their carbon footprint, and the death of the planet becoming ever more imminent, one couple considers the unthinkable — having a baby.
This September, The Sandbox Collective and 9 Works Theatrical bring you the Philippine premiere of Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs, a two-person, one-act play about parenthood, making conscious ecological decisions, and the complications that come with trying to be good people. Over the course of ninety breathless minutes, one couple engages with questions about babies, love, sex, betrayal, and change in one unbroken conversation. Written to be performed devoid of props, costume changes, or scene transitions, Macmillan’s “carbon-neutral” piece reflects the anxieties of potentially having children in an increasingly disastrous world.
“The script challenges the director and creative team to think outside of the box. It says it outright that it has to be really simple,” says director Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan, who takes on material that differs from the spectacular nature of his history in musical theatre. “With a minimal set, no light changes, and no miming, it’s nice to challenge yourself as a director to find different ways to convey the story without being dependent on the usual things you normally use as devices,” says Pamintuan, who is excited to introduce Filipino audiences to Duncan Macmillan’s works.
Best known for plays such as People, Places and Things, Every Brilliant Thing, and the stage adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, Duncan Macmillan is an Olivier Award-nominated writer and director whose works are celebrated in his native Britain and all over the world. Originally produced in Washington DC in 2011, Lungs has since found audiences in the UK, Germany, India, Malaysia, and China. Lungs will be making its Philippine premiere through The Sandbox Collective this 2018.
Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs stars Sab Jose, last seen in 9 Works Theatrical’s Eto Na! Musikal nAPO!, as the intelligent, assertive, and cripplingly neurotic female half of the couple. Television and film actor Jake Cuenca, last seen in ABS-CBN’s The Blood Sisters and on the big screen in Carlo J. Caparas’ Ang Panday, makes his much-awaited theatrical debut playing opposite Jose as her patient, but frequently bewildered partner and potential father to their child.
Lungs is a play by Duncan Macmillan, with direction by Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan, assistant direction from Caisa Borromeo, lighting design by Miguel Panganiban, and set and costume design by Jodinand Aguillon.
Heading the production team are Sandbox Collective managing artistic director Toff de Venecia, 9 Works Theatrical executive producer Santi Santamaria, Anna Santamaria as operations director, Maine Manalasansan as design director, Gian Nicdao as social media manager, GM Hernandez as marketing manager, Jonjon Martin as PR manager, Pauline Gaerlan as production manager, Anissa Aguila as stage manager, Luis Yatco as deputy stage manager, and Gabbi Campomanes as dramaturg. At certain performances, the role usually played by Jake Cuenca will be played by Gabs Santos.
Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs will be showing at the Power MAC Center Spotlight, Circuit Makati from September 22 to October 7, 2018.
Lungs is a production of The Sandbox Collective and 9 Works Theatrical, together with Power MAC Center Spotlight as an official venue partner.
Official Hashtags: #LungsMNL
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