Pamantasan ng Cabuyao

Banay-Banay, Cabuyao, Laguna, Philippines

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

I. Characters of the story

The mother – Portrayed by Jia Hannah Basallote The mother is the owner of
the fabric store where the story took place. The mother, just like how she puts pieces
of cloth together with the use of a machine, when people go into her store and plans
on buying something, she also puts pieces of stories together in order to convince the
customer into purchasing it. She is a great tailor which puts cloth together while also
being a great fabricator of stories. The mother has an illness, an illness so severe that
it caused her great pain that later lead to her death. She has three children, all of
which has different personalities and outlooks on life.The mother was the one that
challenged her daughters to make up stories in order to determine which of them
would inherit the store.

The eldest daughter – Portrayed by Ana Quiocho. The eldest daughter of the mother
who owned the shop. The eldest daughter was noticeably grouchy and sarcastic. Her
sarcasm makes the audience laugh a lot because of how she answers back at her
sisters in a serious manner yet sarcastic tone. The eldest sister likes to wear black and
red and she is seemingly a gothic person. The story she told was that of the story was
of how one girl made a deal with a devil, became immortal, how she regretted it and
later saved other people from such fate.

The middle child- Portrayed by Christine Basilisco. The middle child is the model type,
she is tall, has long legs and is physically attractive. She speaks very confidently and in
a ‘maarte’ way. She has a habit of flipping her hair. She is dressed in blue shorts and a
blue sleeveless top. She often argues with her younger sister, calling her “retarded”
because of her younger sister’s childish ways. The story she told was that of the story
of how one girl went from having nothing to having everything with the use of a magic
mirror but later payed the consequences when she is faced by zombies and turned into
a mermaid because of taking too much “talaba” from the sea.

The youngest child- Portrayed by Gabrielle Bella Mercado. The youngest child plays an
important role in the play especially towards the end. The youngest child is childish and
loves to play with her dolls. She likes telling stories to her dolls. The story she told was
that of a dove and the ability to reunite people. Her mother told her that her innocence
has the ability to reunite people and symbolize peace. Towards the end, the child
inherits her mother’s store and is seen clapping while arranging the narrator, the tailor
like one of her dolls. It is quite creepy and resulted in most of the audience having
goosebumps.

The tailor- Portrayed by Althea Amparo. The tailor was the one singing in the
beginning. The tailor was the narrator that introduced the story. In the beginning u to
the middle it is could unclear what the tailor represents since the shop is only a
methapor to the real life. But as the events unravel,it became clear that the tailor, the
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Banay-Banay, Cabuyao, Laguna, Philippines

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

one who puts cloth together symbolizes God and how God puts people’s stories
together

Other narrators:
Prof. Egaie Salazar
Carlo Macuto
Cedie Torres
Harudo Dayog

Choro:
Kenneth Alcoran
Joshwell Miko Decena
Benedict John Torres
Kimberly Autos
Althea Kaye Sta. Maria
Hideo Arella
Angel Aloquin
Jero Dena
Darlyn Perdigon
Paul Symon Fruto

II. Setting of the Story

The setting of the story is in the fabric shop owned by the characters of the story.
The fabric shop was owned by the mother and it was the shop which one of the three
sisters inherits.
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Banay-Banay, Cabuyao, Laguna, Philippines

III. Plot COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Banay-Banay, Cabuyao, Laguna, Philippines

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

The story started with the introduction of the shop. With the tailor singing and
explaining that every cloth has a corresponding fabric to be woven with and that each
and every one of us has their own story to be woven and sewed with, hence the title “ang
paglaladlad”
The main characters are introduced one by one. Starting with the mother, who owns
the fabric shop, she is introduced as a great salesperson that puts up stories about the
cloth chosen by the customer in order to convince them to buy the fabric. The
symbolism here is that the mother who puts together stories is just like how a cloth or
fabric is made, by putting up pieces of other fabric or threads together.
Next, the daughters are introduced. The eldest is dressed in black and red, had black
lipstick and is mostly gothic in appearance. The middle child is tall, has long legs and
mostly like a supermodel, she speaks in a ‘maarte’ way and is dressed in shorts and
sleeveless top that emphasizes her figure. The youngest is childish and like to play with
her dolls. She claims to love telling stories to her dolls. Each sibling has personality
different from the other, their personalities bring light and excitement to the play as
they bring out they jolly and humorous ways.
The conflict here is that the mother is sick and in severe pain. She now wants one of
her daughters to inherit her fabric shop, but there was a challenge. Like her and how she
operates and convinces people to buy at her shop, the daughters should weave or tell
their own stories. Whoever has the best story would be the one to inherit the fabric shop.
The first to tell the story is the eldest daughter. Her story started with a girl who is sad
because her mother is sick and dying, she wants to find a cure and save her mother
from death. She searched far and wide looking for a cure until she found herself in a
dark forest. From there, she met the devil. The devil made her drink something that would
give her immortal life, she liked the idea, and the power of never-ending life thinking it is a
blessing. On the other hand, she failed to find a cure for her mother. The girl soon
realizes that what she thought was a blessing, is really a curse. She never dies while
people around her who were mortals were destined to die. Soon, she is lonely for the
reason that everyone she ever knew was now dead and everyone around her now are
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Banay-Banay, Cabuyao, Laguna, Philippines

all COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

strangers. She lived a miserable life, wanting to end her immortality, she tried killing
herself numerous time only to wake up in her bed, alive and still breathing.
She met the devil again and wanting to get rid of the curse, the devil explained that
the girl should marry him in order to get rid of the curse. The girl agreed, desperate to
break free from her never-ending life. As she married the devil, the devil then said that
she should make someone else drink from the bottle that also made her immortal, she
would need to pass the curse onto someone else. The girl, wanting no one else to
suffer from the same curse did not make anyone drink from the bottle of immortality.
She choose to be immortal, the wife of the devil and live a miserable life so that no one
else would suffer from such fate ever again.
The next to tell the story is the middle child. She enthusiastically introduces the
character in her story as girl who had nothing but later achieved what she desired with
the use of a magic mirror. The girl loved every luxurious material available. At one pont in
her life, she came across a magic mirror, although what she sees in her reflection is
different- she sees herself, her hair and her body but the reflection is not of her normal
image, it was that of a skeleton. The skeleton in the mirror gave her pearls and
sequins. The girl is ecstatic thinking she had hit the jackpot, soon after she is bathing
in her pearls.
Her downfall came when one night, there was a knock at her doorstep. As she opened the
door, she is horrified to see a group of zombies. The undead had no teeth and
demanded that the girl bring back their teeth, the girl soon realized that the pearls she
received came from the teeth of the dead. The girl then wanted to replace all the
pearls she had took by finding for pearls in the sea. As she is exploring and swimming
in the sea, she took a lot of oysters containing pearls. She took more of what was
intended, she swam and swam and soon the fishes were just watching her. After that,
the fishes replaced her legs with legs that allow her to swim just like a fish. She was turned
into a mermaid. The story ended with the girl explaining that she no longer can escape
from the sea, she became the guardian of the sea and that every wave in the sea is
produced by her constant crying.
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Banay-Banay, Cabuyao, Laguna, Philippines

The COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

last
to tell the story is the youngest child. Her story is about a king and a queen, the queen
wanted to give a present to the king but did not know what gift she could give to him.
She wanted a gift that the king dis not expect and is not an ordinary gift. At the end of the
story, the queen’s gift to the king was the whole kingdom. The people and everything
the kingdom has, its beauty that is incomparable to anything else.
After the story of all the siblings, the mother then experienced severe pain. Her
children were around her, crying as the mother’s life was slowly being taken away. The
play ended with the tailor talking to the audience. Explaining of how these stories are
meant to be a part of a bigger whole. Telling them that the only question left is who
inherited the shop. As the tailor was saying this, a chilling music had be heard as the
youngest child was arranging her like one of her dolls. At the end, the child is seen
clapping at how she had arranged the narrator, A.K.A her doll.

IV. Moral Lesson

Infinite power is a curse. Not a blessing. In the story of the eldest
child, there was a girl who made a deal with the devil in order to save her
mother who has an illness. The price was that the girl would become
immortal. At first she didn’t mind such power. But when everyone around
her, being mortals, all died, she realized she had no one and knew no one
since all of the people she knows are already dead. She was lonely and
wanted to finally die. She tried killing herself multiple times, only to wake up
alive and in her bed. She was miserable and regretted her decision.

Even if you make mistakes, you can still do good. The girl from the
eldest daughter’s story was instructed by the devil that she needs to marry
him in order to get rid of her immortality. When she married the devil, she
was tricked that she also needed to find someone else to pass the curse
unto. The girl, wanting no one else to suffer from the same fate as her, did
not pass the curse to anyone and she remained immortal for the rest of her
life even if it means that her life would be miserable, the curse stayed with
her, forever.

Greediness has its consequences. The girl in the story told by the
middle child craved material things especially pearls. She found a magic
mirror that gave her pearls and soon enough she bathing in riches with her
favorite pearls. Soon enough, zombies were at her doorstep demanding that
she gives back their teeth. The pearls she receives from the mirror was the
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Banay-Banay, Cabuyao, Laguna, Philippines

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

dead people teeth. She then searches for pearls in the sea, she found 10, 20
and many more still she swam and swam and took a whole lot more. The
fishes around her was just watching and soon enough she was turned into a
mermaid, unable to return back to the surface, with her every cry was the
reason for the waves in the ocean.

V. Personal Point of View

My personal point of view is that the shop and the other characters are just
methapors representing important life lessons. The tailor narrating the play
symbolizes God and how God "puts things together" just like how a tailor does. The
shop symbolizes life and how life is full of different stories. The stories told
represent different life lessons.
The story of the eldest representing that every human must die and no one escapes
death and no one is immortal, thus the reason why no one is immortal other than
the wife of satan (although her immortality is just fictional, it proves that no one
else in this world can prolong life and immortality is inexistent). Moreover, it also
depicts that too much power is destructive.
Next, the middle child represents how one should be satisfied with what they have
and that greediness is also destructive. It respresents that there is no magic or no
shortcut to success, that one must word hard to attain success.

The last was the story of the youngest, it depicts a positive outlook on life, that no
matter the circumstance, there is always peace at the end which is the reason why
the youngest had the story about peace because the calm usually comes at the
end.

The ending was creepy and I was not the only one that got goosebumps. In the
end, the child was arranging the narrator like one of her dolls. Then excitedly claps.
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Banay-Banay, Cabuyao, Laguna, Philippines

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

It means that the narrator was one of her dolls all along, that the child was the one
that inherited the shop and all.the characters were her dolls. Hence, the story
telling that happened since the ypungest liked telling stories. It was puzzling yet a
brilliant ending.

I would also like to point out what the middle child always says to the youngest.
When the youngest child would say things that are very childish, her older sister
would burst out and say “manahimik ka, retarded’ as a psychology major, there is a
different feeling hearing something like that being blurted out just like that,
because I have come to know that retardation is not just being plain childish, it is
much more serious than that. However, the play did not intend to use it to mock
the mentally retarded population or criticize such group. The play used those words
just to emphasize humor so it is not much of a big deal to me. Although it is
fascinating that when I heard those words that I know is related to my course,
something inside me just lit up and listened more intently. Maybe it is because I am
a psychology major and I have come to love my course.

The only thing i didnt like about the play was that it had to end. It was a roller
coaster of emotions, there were times that the audience was roaring with laughter
especially when all the cast danced to the song 'tala'. Knowing that one of the cast
of the play is a professor, me and classmates were all applauding, laughing ang
cheering him on, some were even pointing their finger at him. Moreover, aside from
the funny scenes, i could say that the play was a success not only because of the
great story itself, but of how the ending affected everybody. There was no one i
knew that didnt have goosebumps because of the ending. It left the audience
speechless, stunned,puzzled and most of all, creeped out.

I enjoy watching plays, i enjoy looking at or doing art and the play "Ang
paglaladlad" was an excellent addition to appreciating art at Pamantasan ng
Cabuyao, it is proof that art is alive in PNC.