PILOT EPISODE
Director.
Virtual performance, 44 mins.
Cultural Center of the Philippines.
2020.Virgin Labfest.
Text: Floyd Scott Tiogangco
Performers: Phi Palmos, Missy Maramara, Jojit Alonzo
Tech: Camilo de Guzman
Stage Management: Rafa Lubigan
Poster: Ralph Eya
selected reviews
on THE PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER:
Pilot Episode: Brilliant
Floyd Scott Tiogangco’s “Pilot Episode”—not only a cut above the rest, but also inarguably the first great Filipino play of the quarantine…
The advantages of having a filmmaker at the helm are instantly recognizable. But more than just his evident grasp of working on screen, director Giancarlo Abrahan actually lends the medium of film to heighten both the storytelling and the theatrical production, instead of insisting that the theater adjust to preconceived demands of film…
By merely playing with the screens—the “positioning” of the actors, how many screens they occupy in a scene, even the way they appear, disappear or are cut within a screen—Abrahan is able to capture the internal and external struggles of mental illness, and renders the confusions of mania—the flight of ideas, the fluctuating emotions and energies—in surprisingly accessible and evocative terms.from Virgin Labfest: PH experiences its first virtual theater
Vincen Gregory Yu
on THE PHILIPPINE STAR:
Floyd Scott Tiogangco’s Pilot Episode begins with this, the promise of
a monologue, and we are made to share a short-lived space of stability, before the screen then multiplies, flickers, fluctuates, and becomes an illustration of a queer, bipolar character’s inner state. The manic upsurge of energy, with its sporadic dips and falls, is one that actor Phi Palmos manages so well while cameras pointed at different angles are adeptly commanded by director Giancarlo Abrahan to suggest three characters in proximity. But I also find the distance affecting. The split enforced by the screen is equally resonant in conveying the care and caution one takes in approaching.from A review of the Virgin Labfest
Pristine L. de Leon
on theaterfansmanila.com :
#1. Pilot Episode
Frustrating and agitating from start to finish, but that’s precisely the point of this portrait of a young man suffering from [a] bipolar disorder. Tiogangco starts [off] by walking us through what it’s like to seek help, and then shows us what it’s like to have an episode, and what it’s like to witness a loved one go through an episode. Deeply disorientating.
And then you realize just how much work needs to be done here by way of supporting and understanding mental health. Abrahan’s multiple angles, the way the actors look and talk to each other as though they’re all inhabiting the same space, Phi Palmos delivering an unforgettable, piercing performance alongside Missy Maramara and Jojit Lorenzo–utterly masterful.from 10 Virgin Labfest “Kapit” Plays, Ranked
Nikki Francisco