Streams of Consciousness… Beware of wordiness*!

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A Gay-Lesbian/Queer Criticism on “Dalawa”

By Philip Hope P. Mamugay

            The play entitled “Dalawa” from the twin-bill production In2rscors tells the story of two best friends: Rita and Gigi, and the revelations made by each of them one night when the former decides to spend the night in the latter’s apartment.

            The first hint of homosexuality, although quite subtle, is depicted on Rita’s choice of clothes. She wears a simple tee and a pair of baggy pants. She doesn’t like to dress up, and because of this fashion attitude, she is dubbed a “tomboy”.

            The two talks about different personal topics and shows streams of consciousness, they converse in an unrestrained, continuous, and natural manner. The spontaneity of their talks stresses out the firmness of their same-sex bond as best friends and is not quite viewed with malice by the audience at first.

            Before exploring the depths of homosexual behavior, it is rather important to note the individual personalities of the two characters: Rita is the silent type. She appears to be troubled. It is mentioned that she happens to be her dad’s favorite. This attachment to her dad will soon surface a revelation as the story unfolds. Like what has been stated earlier, she is “tomboyish”. She doesn’t talk unless someone catalyzes her to speak out, and in this case, Gigi is her catalyst.

            Gigi, on the other hand, is bubbly, perky, and “kikay”. She is adventurous and is quite the outspoken type. She views intimacy as something exciting, although she has never done “it” all the way.

            Later on, a drastic change of atmosphere occurs to Rita and Gigi’s “slumber party” mood when Rita confesses to Gigi that she has been repeatedly molested by her father. Gigi was dumbfounded at first, but as the two decides to go to sleep, her curiosity and adventurous trait took control over her causing her to act queerly. She caresses Rita and tries to kiss her. Rita wakes up and tries to stop Gigi but the latter blackmails her, saying that she would spread the word that Rita is having sex with her dad.

      “Gusto mong ipagkalat ko sa buong campus na you’re f****ng your dad?!”

            There has been an exchange of personalities. Rita, who appears to be the tomboy at the start of the play, is now being harassed by her friend Gigi, who is now the one displaying real homosexual tendencies. In the end, Rita gave in.

            The coming-out-of-the-closet by the character Gigi is quite notable. Throughout the play, we were led to believe that she is the “straight” one. But once she finds out about Rita having had sex with her dad, she decides to take this opportunity to test her curiosity and her closeted lesbian tendencies. Gigi recognizes within herself her desire to be sexually intimate with Rita and decides to act on it. She uses Rita’s secret as a leverage to blackmail her and take advantage of her.

            It is thus, then revealed that Gigi is the one with lesbian tendencies and Rita is merely a victim. In this case, a victim of both her father’s and best friend’s sexual abuse. Rita and Gigi enter into a genital relationship with each other. Both make a step inside the realm of their first lesbian experience.

            The concept of the play rejects the idea of compulsory heterosexuality. This means that there is an act of resistance made by Gigi to heterosexual behavior as she decides to start “coming out of the closet” and expose her real sexual identity to her troubled friend, Rita. Compulsory heterosexuality is the assumption that men and women are ideally made for each other both sexually and emotionally and that homosexuality is abnormal and is not universal.

            The message of this play is very relevant for the contemporary times. It raises the recognition of non-heterosexual behaviors and calls for a greater understanding to it. It does not imply that same-sex relationships (i.e. friendship) should be viewed upon with suspicion and should be categorized with condemnation under the lesbian continuum, but it expresses the fact that such homosexual behaviors actually exist and turning a blind eye on them is not a reasonable solution.

This is a critique submitted by the author in his English 90 class under Prof. Christine F. Godinez-Ortega.

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