Battalia Royale is a "stage" adaptation of Sipat Lawin Ensemble of the Japanese movie, Battle Royale.
When I first heard of the play on Tumblr, I became ecstatic. I loved the movie so much when I first saw it at some random hotel room back then, and to have it adapted into an almost interactive play was beyond awesome. I was so psyched that I downloaded the movie to watch it again. Yeap eager kid is eager.
Anyway, I immediately grabbed 3 of my blockmates, Ariane (cuz she's always game to go out), Mich (cuz she's interested daw), and Miks (cuz he's a motherfuckin' psycho that's why... HAHA kidding Miks, don't make strings come out of my eyes). So we were all giddy as fuck when Miks suddenly backed out cuz he had an "accident" (too gross for the general patronage)... kaya ayun 3 nalang kami, but we were still psyched.
On the day of the play, we immediately left school (a.k.a. cut class) and went searching for the venue. Lo and behold... we were too early. Hahaha. The actors weren't even wearing their costumes yet. So we idly sat by outside the abandoned school. We even tried walking along the street but Mich and I were getting worried for Ariane cuz she's a conyo. Hahaha.
When we got our tickets, we were tasked to go inside a classroom where we waited again. This is what happens when you're super early... you wait... and I hate waiting. I have ADHD when I am made to wait. So anyway, we were people watching when Kuya Bodjie suddenly went inside the room. Of course, like an ordinary fan of Batibot would feel, I felt awe-stricken. It's motherfuckin' Kuya Bodjie! There were a lot of questions in my head the first time I saw him, such as "San si Ate Sienna? San si Kapitan Basa? San si Pong Pagong?" Mga ganung tanong lang naman. Hahaha. Nung nagsalita na si Kuya Bodjie, lahat ng tao, hiyawan, but we were tasked to keep quiet because the play was about to begin, but before that, we were going to play a game daw.
Initial thought: "Tangina. Ayoko mapili dito." So I rummaged my way to a group of people para matago ako. Yun pala, buong audience maglalaro. The game was Killer, Killer. Sabi ko "Pucha, yun lang pala." Haha. "Eh nilalaro natin ton tuwing break dati.", I told Mich and Ariane. The original game of Killer, Killer is you sit in a circle and take pieces of paper (which contain the role you are going to portray). If you get the "Killer", what you have to do is wink at random persons and kill most of the people in the circle without being identified by the "Judge"/"Police". If you get "Judge"/"Police", what you have to do is catch the "Killer". Sipat Lawin's version of Killer, Killer was fun. All we had to do was close our eyes, and wait for the signal to open them. If you get tapped on the back once, you are deemed a "Killer", and if you're tapped twice, "Judge" ka, and everybody else is a goner. The winners of the game will be those who are creative when it comes to creating their own deaths. And let me say, they were really creative with their deaths, because as soon as we opened our eyes, people we're beginning to die around us. It was pretty scary actually. Putangina ikaw kaya nasa isang classroom ka tas dim pa yung lights tas yung mga tao isa-isa namamatay. People were shrieking... screaming... some even had foaming mouths. What the fuck is happening. Tapos biglang "namatay" si Ariane. I thought she was kidding, but she told me some guy killed her daw. Well buti pa siya namatay... kami ni Mich parang tanga lang dun... buhay. Haha. Anyway, three people won. Their prizes were awesome actually. They will be given special parts in the play raw. Damn. Wish I won that one.
So when the play officially started, it was chaos. Organized chaos, but still... Everyone was running like a bunch of rabid animals. Imaginin mo may sunog + may raid + zombie outbreak. Ganun ka-intense. And it was hard to run since there were no lights. It was an abandoned school. Limited electricity. Anyway, we soon got inside a huge space where a human pile of students were waiting for us. As they wake up, Kuya Bodjie A.K.A. Fraser Solomon (class adviser of Class Hope) walks in and talks to us like we're behind a two-way glass window. He mentions that the class was on their way to Mt. Pinatubo for their field trip when they were gassed by the government and were chosen as participants for Battle Royale, and were tasked to kill each other until one remains. Dun-dun-dun. "Bullshit!" shouted Basti A.K.A "Shit guy" (Ariane and I coined the nickname for the dude in that video about spoiled teenagers) And that would be the normal reaction... "Bullshit!" Magpatayan? Tangina. Ano 'toh Hunger Games? Anyway, nagmamanhid na yung leg ko when the nurse died. She was killed by Fraser at gunpoint. That's when I felt really psyched. Patayan naaaaaa. Woooh. And I could feel the audience feel it too kase medyo nagbubulungan na lahat at nagreready nang tumayo. Tapos isa pang gunshot, takbuhan na lahat ng students. Simultaneously, our guides were shouting and ordering us to move our asses. Shit, this is the real fucking deal. So Ariane and Mich grabbed me, and we ran like goddamn savages to the next scene. It was funny that we forgot that it was an abandoned school. It was unsafe. Tumalon ako sa isang ledge and I landed sa gutter. Wow. Daredevil ako amp. Pero I was fine. Konting galaw lang though and I would've sprained my ankle. But I would do anything to be first at the scene.
Una naming pinuntahan, nalabuan ako kase di ko alam kung san ako titingin. May couple na nadun sa likod ng isang puno tapos meron namang nagsisigawan dun sa building sa harap namin. Again, chaos. After 'nun, our guides led us downstairs to what looked like the abandoned school's former gym. The first character we saw was a guy who kept on mumbling poetry while pacing inside a room. May fork pa siyang hawak. Either nagdadasal siya bago kumain o naka-drugs siya. Ewan. Basta patuloy-tuloy siya sa ginagawa niya. Tas biglang may sumigaw sa isang part ng gym tas pagtingin ko yung isang student sinaksak yung kaklase niya ng spear. Hayup! After naman 'nun, we were introduced to a couple who were arguing about sex and shit tas biglang binigla sill ng isang dude na may bomba sa katawan. This is when I got excited... Sabi ko "Eto na, mababasa na ako ng dugo! Woohoo!" Then boom goes the dynamite... but sadly, only Ariane and Mich got splattered. So ayun, na-depress ako.
It was my first time having to watch a play wherein there's a "Choose your own adventure" kind of element in it. Nalilito nga kami eh kung san kami pupunta cuz we had certain students we were rooting for. We just stayed in the gym and watched the scenes of Kakai (counterpart of Mitsuko aka the badass chick in the class); Victor (who was supposed to be a version of Sugimura); Rhae (Chigusa's counterpart); Julius, Lakhi, and June; the Kiriyama gang, and Jess and her volleyball team (the girls in the lighthouse).
I'm not going to tell the story scene by scene anymore since I know you guys have a short attention span. So imma just mention some of my favorite scenes.
First are Kakai's scenes. First of all, I didn't expect the girl on girl action between Kakai and Ina. Intense MOMOL action. Haha. I was like "Is this for real?" Holy crap. And I didn't expect Kakai to be Mitsuko's counterpart. She looked like an innocent kid. Well siguro yun yung point. She was a good player. She deceived most of her classmates and killed them. We even get to hear her back story in one of the scenes, wherein she got raped as a kid because her mom pimped her. Disturbed girl is disturbed.
Second would be the Kiriyama gang's scenes. Intense din sila eh. All the girls kicked ass. Compared to Kakai's tactics of befriend and kill, theirs were more direct. Rambol kagad. Sipa kung sipa. Suntok kung suntok. Wrestlemania ang dating pucha. I was rooting for the blonde Japanese-looking girl. Now she was badass. It was sad to see them all die though.
Third would be Victor's scenes. He was sort of the main hero for us. He was like Sugimura's character mixed with Shogo's character. He was a good boy with a mission to find his best friend and potential love interest, Rhae, but it doesn't mean that he's a good boy that he's hesitant to kill. He killed a lot of people, but only because he was avenging some of his classmates. He was a crowd favorite, too. Mich was all giddy for him. Crush na crush niya kase. Anyway, he died after killing Kakai (who killed a lot of her classmates, as well as, Rhae).
Fourth, would be Timothy's scene. Timothy is some random character that Fraser picks and kidnaps. He is the prize for the Killer, Killer game actually. The winners of the game earlier would be the ones having the chance to kill Timothy, but there was a twist. They could only kill Timothy if the audience decides whether he is to be killed or not. Ariane, Mich, and I voted to save him... but we were outnumbered. Bunch of bloodthirsty animals! Maybe this part was placed in the play to see how we view humanity and violence. Apparently, some people prefer violence. I like violence as much as the next guy, but even if it was a hypothetical situation, I would've preferred saving him. Anyway, lumalayo na ako sa kwento. Haha.
Moving on. Fifth, would be the scenes of Jess and her gang of naive girls. I wasn't really interested in their story since I assumed their ending was the same as the "Lighthouse girls" in the movie (wherein they killed each other out of paranoia). I was rooting for Sophia though. Didn't know how she died though since it was already "Choose your adventure" time when she got killed. I don't know how the other girls died rin actually. So if anyone of you knows, pakisabi. Curious lang ako. Pati dun kina Lakhi, Julius, and June.
Mag-tutwo hours na ata nung inannounce na "It's time to choose your adventure!" So Mich, Ariane, and I quickly decided and chose to follow the Kiriyama gang. By the time we situated ourselves on the second floor of a building, Basti killed most of his gang members already. Ang narinig na lang narinig "You should've been careful, Sanyaaaa" (in the most conyo-est tone ever haha). Then Carmina was killed. Tapos some random guy who kept spraying Axe was killed then Basti and Kakai fought. Basti got away while Kakai and Victor fought. Victor finally got to kill Kakai and when he was deciding on whether to kill himself or not, Basti comes out beside us (nagulat nga yung iba eh, bigla nalang nasa 2nd floor si Basti), positions himself, and shoots Victor. So just as we assumed that Basti won, we were led to an empty pool (which was nifty for skateboarding... too bad I don't know how hahaha) where Basti, Jessica, and June were. So this is where I became really curious how the other characters like Sophia, Lakhi, and Julius died kase di ko inexpect na si Jess at si June matitira. After a couple of minutes, Jess gets shot so we assumed she's dead already. June and Basti are left. June kills Basti, and we're like "Siya nanalo?!" We hardly even knew her. Anyway, Jess stands up and is frantic at the sight of Basti's dead body. June tells her that it's okay and tries to explain, but Jess, in panic, shoots June and kills her. So ayun, nanalo si Jess, and mad props to the one who played her because she really looked like she was scarred for life for killing somebody. She was then congratulated by Fraser and was declared the valedictorian. Didn't expect this kind of ending as well, but I still loved it. Haha.
The last scene of the play was back to the big quadrangle (where the Kiriyama gang died) wherein all the bodies of the students were lined up and covered with white sheets. Sabi ko pa nga "Are they gonna play and dance Thriller?" Then, this funky music starts to play and we figured it was the school's anthem. While the anthem was playing, the students rise up and sing the hymn with actions pa. Ayos talaga yung play na 'toh noh? Namatay na nga, kumakanta pa sila. Haha. Parang black comedy. Anyway, after that, the play was over. Huhu.
Don't think I'm spoiling you by saying who died and who won. Calm down. I've been told they change the endings for every show, so don't worry. If ever I'm going to watch it again (and I am going to watch it again, this time with a few of my other blockmates), I'll get better shots. Hehe. Oh, and I'll definitely watch out for Kuya Bodjie... kase di ako nakapagpa-picture sa kanya. Booo.
To end this long post, imma invite you guys to watch Battalia Royale. I hear they'll be running the show again on September. I hope they still retain the original cast, though. They were awesome. Mad props to the cast, the director, the guides, and to other staff of Sipat Lawin. You guys are the reason why Battalia Royale is nuclear!
