Poster courtesy of Short+Sweet Manila social media page
MANILA -- Short+Sweet, dubbed as the "largest little play festival in the world", is set to stage its fifth edition in Manila this November with 53 curated 10-minute scripts to be presented by Filipino directors and actors.
Short+Sweet, which originated in Sydney, Australia, seeks to develop original works with emerging artists and provide a platform for local talents to showcase their knack in performing art.
It has paved its way through India, Middle East, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, with Manila being one of its biggest festivals.
For this year's Manila edition, Vaishali Ray, Short+Sweet Manila Festival director, is optimistic about the event's turnout.
"In today's day of instant everything, telling a story on stage in 10 minutes and as an audience going through a rollercoaster of many stories and many emotions is pretty exciting. If you find something that is not to your taste, you just need to hang on, it's just for 10 minutes," she said in a recent media roundtable promoting the event.
Since there is no set theme in every Short+Sweet editions, theater lovers can find a mixed bag of stuff in this unique festival from comedy and drama performances, a couple of plays that are a little bit on the horror or suspense side, and some wildcard entries.
"In this year's wildcard, some of it is very provocative material, some of it is very mature, on the other hand, some of it is on the more entertainment side almost like a little bit TV in style, they don't usually score high but they're entertaining when you put them on," Joonee Garfia, the festival's co-director, said in an interview.
Short+Sweet Manila is supported by the Australian Embassy in Manila as part of its broader Australia Now program which seeks to further strengthen the people-to-people ties of Canberra and Southeast Asian nations through arts.
The plays will be staged starting Nov. 9 at the PARC Foundation in San Juan City with ticket price at PHP300 to PHP350 for a wildcard and main stage, respectively. (PNA)
