Kapwa Beckett: Co-Performance, Pakikipagkapwa, and Relational Meaning-Making in Philippine Stagings of Samuel Beckett

Authors

• Christian Gabriel Tolentino, De La Salle UniversityFollow

Abstract

This reflective-practice study examines how kapwa and pakikipagkapwa emerged through translation, rehearsal, staging, and reception in three Philippine productions of Samuel Beckett: Endgame (2016), Happy Days (2019), and the devised classroom piece Beckett, Godot & Us Waiting (2023). Using comparative production analysis and a dialogical co-performance orientation drawn from Dwight Conquergood, I analyze rehearsal exercises, adaptation notes, production materials, staging decisions, and remembered performer-audience encounters. The analysis identifies distinct relational practices across the productions: collaborative localization and sensory dramaturgy in Endgame; negotiated media adaptation and mediated intimacy in Happy Days; and devising, Meisner repetition, physical trust, and shared post-pandemic waiting in Beckett, Godot & Us Waiting. Across the cases, Beckett’s recurring conditions of dependence, uncertainty, loss, and waiting become relational rather than solely individual experiences. The study argues that kapwa offers a specifically Filipino ethical framework for understanding how theatrical meaning is co-produced through attention, vulnerability, mutual dependence, and recognition.

Recommended Citation

Tolentino, Christian Gabriel (2026) "Kapwa Beckett: Co-Performance, Pakikipagkapwa, and Relational Meaning-Making in Philippine Stagings of Samuel Beckett," DLSU Arts Congress Conference Proceedings: Vol. 10, Article 4.
Available at: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/dacproceedings/vol10/iss1/4