What happens when children get stranded on an island with no way out? William Golding’s Lord of the Flies explored this premise in the context of the British upperclass, and the Far Eastern University (FEU) Theater Guild is adapting it for Filipino audiences with Bangaw.
Lord of the Flies was written in 1954, inspired by Golding’s experiences during World War II. The story follows a group of British schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island during a nuclear war. Without adult supervision, the privileged children’s attempts to govern themselves fail as the group turns savage, spiraling into survival of the fittest.
The FEU Theater Guild (FTG) is staging a local version of the classic novel, where the plane with the children crash in Tawi-Tawi—the southernmost island province of the Philippines. The production is written by Gold Villar-Lim, with music by Vince Lim, and direction by Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) Senior Artist-Teacher and FTG Artistic Director Dudz Teraña. The stranded children are led by Raf and Jack, whose two camps fight between preserving order or following a “might makes right” society. Much like the novel it’s based on, Bangaw explores themes of abuse of power, moral decay, and patriarchy, while reflecting bayanihan, resilience, and hope—some of the pillars that makes Filipino society.
Catch this reimagination this March and April at FEU – East Asia College, FEU Center for the Arts (FCA) in Metro Manila, Philippines.