The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Where does criticism begin and friendship end?
Actress Dexter Doria and producer, director, writer and actor Vince Tañada have been friends for years but there is a line that divides the bond between the two film, television and artists.
Dexter has maintained her independence as a screen persona and as a private individual who has duties and responsibilities in the performances of arts in people’s lives. As a free thinker in a so-called democratic society, Doria has her own standards and parameters in measuring up to the relevance of a piece of art let alone acting in the development of oneself and the collective consciousness of its spectators.
This she was able to show and commit when she recently watched the stage plays staged at the Blackbox Theater of Vince at the corner of G. Tuazon and Calabash Road in Sampaloc, Manila.
There were omnibus theater pieces presented that night like “Alimpuyo,” “Moment to Moment,” “Ari Kari” and one indigenous act (all writer and directed by Vincent M. Tañada) which this writer failed to watch because of an important meeting with Vince and an interested party in the screening of Tañada’s film “Katips.”
At the initial three tableaus, Dexter was actively speaking up her voices on the acting of the stage thespians.
“’Yong main actress sa ‘Moment to Moment,’ grabe siya (she’s fantastic). She has the makings of a star,” shared Doria who spoke from her academic yardsticks as a graduate of acting schools, formal and non-formal and her experiential gauges of the craft.
“Sa cast ng ‘Alimpuyo,’ ensemble kayo at synchronized. And you’re daring. That makes you real troopers and actors,” the actress quipped.
“Malayo ang mararating ng mga artistang ito ng Philstagers. Kaya lang, dapat hindi kayo tumigil sa pag-aaral (These artists of Plistagers will fo places. But still, you don’t stop learning),” Doria advised.
No matter how acerbic Dexter has expressed on Vince’s art, her friend would take them with level-headedness and objectivity.