Ang Paglilitis at Pagkamatay ni Jose Rizal

(The Trial and Death of Jose Rizal: Text and Commentaries)

A documentary play.

Synopsis:

The play depicts, in 26 scenes, the trial, conversion, and execution of Jose Rizal. The dramatization of the texts, drawn from actual historical accounts, alternates with commentaries drawn from Rizal's novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, and his play Junto al Pasig.

The first cluster of scenes shows the court interrogations, testimonies by false witnesses, and finally the verdict that Rizal is guilty of illicit association and rebellion. Rizal counters the accusations with notes written for his defender, Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade, and his Manifesto to the Philippine Revolutionaries. The commentaries are excerpts from conversations between Ibarra and Elias in Noli Me Tangere and between Simoun and Basilio in El Filibusterismo.

After Rizal is informed of his death sentence, he requests to see his Jesuit teachers. The texts in this part of the play are the debates between Rizal and his former teachers about Catholic doctrines on Revelation. The commentary consists of excerpts from the play Junto al Pasig, in which Satan, disguised as an indigenous spirit, persuades Leonido to worship him.

As the date of his execution approaches, Rizal signs his retraction of Masonry and other attacks on the Catholic faith. He confesses to Fr. Villaclara. On the morning of his execution, Rizal marries Josephine Bracken.

The play ends with the scene from the last chapter of El Filibusterismo, in which Padre Florentino tells Simoun of the need for love and sacrifice.

Theatre Productions:

First produced in 1996 at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Director: Nonon Padilla