Rizal stage play takes form by Jaime K. Pimentel

The cast of the late Leonor Orosa Goquinco’s one-act stage play, “Her son, Jose Rizal,” went into rehearsals in earnest on Sunday, April 11, at a makeshift stage in Hiyas Ng Bayan Child Care Centre, Mount Pritchard southwest of Sydney.

The play on the life of Rizal covers his childhood and significant events before his execution by a Spanish firing squad. It goes through the arrest of his mother Teodora by civil guards, a fiesta scene with the Governor General, Rizal’s cell detention and his farewell to his mother.

Producer-director Armando Reyes went through reading and blocking four scenes of the play with his cast, which included well-known actor RJ Rosales, (pictured above). RJ was in for a week before travelling back to Singapore and returning in June.

Rosales plays the role of a youthful Jose Rizal, while local Manny Diel plays the 35-year-old Rizal. The child Rizal is played by Elijah Merjudio.

In the role of Rizal’s mother, Dona Teodora, is Marilyn Mendez. The role Rizal’s elder brother Paciano, is played by Marcel de Vera, and in the role of Rizal’s sister Choleng is
Arianne Milan.
?Manny Diel as Rizal writing ‘Mi Ultimo Adios’

Gala night of Her Son, Jose Rizal is on Sunday, June 19, at the Tom Mann Theatre in Surry Hills, Sydney. – ?