Quiet on Set: Inside the ‘Request sa Radyo’ Preview

On October 9th, a city of noise is willed into near-deafening silence.

Manila’s full throttle pace is disrupted, at least for a few hours, for Request sa Radyo featuring Vogue Philippines October cover stars Lea Salonga and Dolly de Leon. The anticipation that built since the announcement of the theater production reached a crescendo as performances are set to formally commence on October 10th. However, select audiences were invited to a special preview of the play a day prior, attended by personalities across fashion, art, theater, and culture such as Rajo Laurel, Alex Cortez, Vina Morales, Michael de Mesa, and more.

The Samsung Performing Arts Theater was fashioned into a faux airport with a departure gate, an installation featuring Balikbayan boxes, and actors were walking around the area with luggages in tow. This is a nod to the play’s sole character, alternately performed by Salonga and de Leon, who is an OFW healthcare worker.

The blooming theater scene of Manila makes way for a number of productions. Currently, SIX the Musical, an international production about the six wives of Henry VIII formatted as a pop concert, is showing at the Solaire Theater. Repertory Philippines is currently presenting Jepoy and the Magic Circle, a fantasy play that introduces children to folktales and rare animal species at the newly opened Eastwood Theater. Bar Boys: A New Musical boasts a cult following and is currently screening at the Blackbox Theater in Makati. These productions utilize set design, music, dialogue, and line delivery in a way that Request sa Radyo fully contradicts.

The preview began with a 6 PM performance by Tony and Olivier award winning actress Lea Salonga, followed by an 8 PM performance by Gawad Urian award winning and Golden Globe nominated actress Dolly de Leon. Although playing the same role of an OFW healthcare worker, both actresses approach the character in varying ways: one exudes the essence of someone who just came from a long, tedious surgery as she herself is a visibly open wound who yearns for comfort, and the other displays the temperament of someone who had just experienced micro aggressions at the workplace, with no one to complain to but an empty void.

The source material for Request sa Radyo is based on German playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz 1971 play, “Wunschkonzert” or “Request Program,” now re-contextualized with subtle Filipino elements. The set design is decisively simple, in the sense that it looks straight out of a minimalist home decor catalogue, but he subtext is clear: the pain of existence is already a burden to carry, so everything else in life must be manageable. A pixie cut, a nondescript cardigan, a folding bed, a condiment carry-all, details that coax out the darkness of the mundane. While the show is formatted as a voyeuristic view into one woman’s evening routine, it is a mirror to the audience, allowing us to reflect on our own feelings of loneliness.

Perhaps this is the most defining characteristic of this character: she exists to be projected upon. She is every Filipino student who succumbed to brain drain, encouraged to study a healthcare course and work overseas. She is your tita abroad who sends home Balikbayan boxes full of Bath and Body Works perfumes and bundled chocolates for Christmas. She is every person working away from their hometown in search of greener pastures, silently drowning in a claustrophobic isolation. This is a story everyone know all too well, making the performance of a quiet pain so compelling.

In 2023, the World Health Organization published a study about the “loneliness epidemic” following the COVID-19 pandemic, which halted many social activities. The side effects of loneliness are also proven to be connected to different health complications such as dementia, cardiovascular diseases, and stroke.

So if loneliness is an epidemic, what then, is the cure? Request sa Radyo is not a play that tells you specifically what the remedy is, however, it opens opportunities for important discourse about loneliness and isolation especially in the workplace, and the importance of mental wellness through community. On an optimistic note, if the reactions to the performances are anything to indicate, it is an enduring reminder that no one is ever alone in their loneliness.

At the afterparty attended by the lead actresses Salonga and de Leon and guests such as Ces Drilon, Christian Bautista, and Wanggo Gallaga, producer Clint Ramos dedicates the production to overseas Filipino workers. As a society imbued in a “loneliness epidemic,” more than praise, Request sa Radyo is a production that wants, seeks, and requests your empathy.

Request sa Radyo featuring alternating performances by Lea Salonga and Dolly de Leon starts at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater on October 10, exclusively for only 20 performances. Below, see more photos from the preview event.