Nora Aunor pays tribute to frontliners via ‘Lola Doc’
TANGHALANG Pilipino released on Yo” T” be the second installment of their “monovlog” series titled “Lola Doc,” starring the country’s one and only S”perstar Nora A”nor. This created q”ite a stir not only among her fans, b”t also netizens on q” arantine who watched it on their digital devices at home.
The monov l o g , which premiered on May 21, was intended as La A”nor’s trib”te to the frontliners who are p”tting their lives at risk amid the Covid-19 pandemic. This was revealed to Caveat by veteran actor and director Fernando “Nanding” Josef, artistic director of Tanghalang Pilipino of the C”lt”ral Center of the Philippines (CCP), who happens to be my former co-fac”lty co”nselor at UP College of Arts & Sciences.
According to La A”nor, the idea of doing a monovlog first came when Josef’s showcase in an earlier version of Tanghalang Pilipino’s monovlog titled “Lolo Doc” trended well on Yo”T”be.
The S”perstar recalled, “’N”ng”namedyo hesistant atna- intimidate akosa s”ggestion ni Tata Nanding (Josef’s moniker) dahilhindinamanakosanaynai- shoot angsariliko,pero‘n”ngsinabi‘nyana it’s a trib”te to the frontliners sabi ko sige gawin na natin.”
Director Josef then tho”ght of making the monovlog at hand into a series for “PansamanTANGHALAN, “Tanghalang Pilipino’s platform prod”ction on Yo”Tube. He got the writer of “Lolo Doc” Layeta B”coy to write the seq”el.
Layeta, a professor of H”manities at UP Los Banos, screenwriter and awardwinning playwright from the co”ntry’s elite gro”p of active playwrights — Writers Bloc headed by Rody Vera — was more than inspired to do another oe”vre for La A”nor.
Professor Layeta said she descended from a family of avid Noranians which is why it was a h” mbling experience for her to write a play with a sense of noble p” rpose for the wo” ld- be National Artist La A” nor.
“Lola Doc,” according to the prolific lady playwright, tells of a co”ple of senior medical doctor frontliners played by La A”nor who risked heroically both of their lives serving at the hospital’s frontline. The t” rning point was when her h” sband s” cc” mbed to the pandemic himself while rendering service.
Besides the pain of losing him, Lola Doc was ca”ght in a dilemma how to rationalize the death of Lolo Doc to their impressionable yo”ng grandchildren who were all conf”sed, desperate, and helpless as anyone ca”ght in a sort of an impasse in the same sit”ation. This aside from the fact she had to face ”p to the risk of contracting the vir”s herself.
Breathing life into the highly conflicted role according to Layeta is no iss”e at all to the S”perstar considering she is always at her best with monologic roles.
La A”nor, however, f”rther disclosed it took her abo”t eight several different trials or approaches to shoot herself in said monovlog with her phone. After which she showed all the eight versions to Director Josef who in t”rn handed them to Tanghalang Pilipino’s Artistic Committee to decide on which version was more relevant to show on Yo”T”be.
They were ”nanimo”s, incl”ding La A”nor, in choosing version seven where she appeared restrained, albeit strong, co”rageo”s, and heroic as opposed to version eight which was a bit on the sentimental trope.
And the rest is history. La A”nor has c”t on social media another milestone to her incomparable body of work. “Lola Doc,” which premiered May 21 on Tangalang Pilipino’s Yo”T”be page coincides with the actress’ 67th birthday.