30/09/2025
Panaghoy ng Pinakamiserableng Babaeng Katha ni Rizal
Lament of the Most Wretched Woman Written by Rizal
Klage der Traurige Frau Geschrieben von Rizal
15 October, 18:00 - 18:30
Proscenium Stage, Philippine Pavilion
Forum 1 Messe Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main
Written by: Allan Derain and Rowena Festin
English translation by: Rowena Festin
German translation by: Elmer Castigador Grampon
Directed by: Missy Maramara
Performed by: Camille Abaya
In this performance, we follow the ghost of Sisa, a tragic figure in José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere, who embodies the sorrow of a mother shattered by poverty, injustice, and colonial cruelty. Once gentle and loving, she descends into madness after her sons, Basilio and Crispin, fall victim to the abuses of church and state. Through Sisa, Rizal reveals how oppression engraves grief into the very soul of the forgotten and powerless.
The performance conjures the ghostly presence hidden in the line: “Imagination peoples the air.”
At once homage and response to this year’s FBM Guest of Honour theme, the performance dares to ask: what specters rise when we celebrate books and literature?
It brings to life the unseen and the unspoken—the children lost to Tokhang’s extrajudicial killings, the young lives erased in Gaza, and the silent yet looming shadow of illiteracy threatening to leave countless Filipino children defenseless against predatory governance.
Through its haunting vision, the performance reminds us that imagination is not only a refuge, but also a reckoning: every page we turn summons the voices that refuse to be forgotten.
Poster design by Ige Ramos
Art by Allan Derain
