Abbatoir by Leoncio Deriada Analysis

1. What kind of play is this (theme/thesis; tragedy/comedy/ tragicomedy)?

-The theme of the play is a tragedy as the characters portray how they deal with the loss
of their loved ones.
2. What thematic concerns are presented? Is there any clear assertion?
-In the play, the couple are concerned about possibly losing their last living son through
the war. The information of his condition was never known to them until the very end.
3. What values are focused on? Are they defended, attacked or both?
-I believe the story focuses a lot about loss and how they cope with it. Emotionally, the
wife seems to be on the offensive when it comes to her voicing out her worries and troubles
while the husband, in a way, is being defensive by pretending that things will be okay and
shielding himself from the reality of possibly losing their other son.
4. What are the characters like?
-The wife is a very worrisome character as she expresses her thoughts a lot throughout
the whole play while the husband seems dismissive whenever she mentions her troubles and just
tells her to not think about it.
5. What is the conflict? Is it serious or light? What are important turning points?
-The conflict between the couple is about their concern for their son fighting in the war
and the atmosphere of the play seems to be serious. One of the turning points in the story is when
the husband finally broke down after realizing the intensity of his wife’s worries as the audience
learns that all this time he carried the same burden as she did.
6. What elements keep the attention of the audience?
-One of the things that brings a lot of attention to the play is when the actors portray the
emotions that the characters are going through as you start to empathize with them. The anxiety
of not knowing what happened to their son is something that the audience could relate to. The
unfolding of the story and keeping the audience wondering how it ends and what happened to
their son also captures their curiosity.
7. What info about events that happened before the play is introduced through dialogue? By
whom?
-The wife anxiously asking her husband if there was any news about the war in the paper
allowed the characters to introduce the story of how their son is a soldier fighting the war. She
also starts to narrate certain events such as the death of her first son as well as their previous
occupation as school teachers.
8. What events are kept off stage? Why? How does the audience find out?
-Most of the events prior to what was happening on stage were introduced through the
dialogue. This is because it is difficult to portray certain scenes like flashbacks and details that
would most likely require special effects. An example would be the couple recalling the events
of when they heard of their first son’s death and how he died in Vietnam as an engineer. They
also talk about their second son who was out in the battle field fighting a war in the other
province. The wife also tells the story of when she watched a cow being butchered at the
slaughterhouse right across their home in excruciating detail. If these were to be shown on stage,
it would be nearly impossible to do so effectively.
9. How do sets and actors support the [play]? Are there distortions?
-The details in the set allowed the audience to have an idea of where and when the act
was taking place. The design of the living room with Rattan furniture and printed curtains shows
a very typical Filipino home. The placement and location of the props provides easy
visualization of the story. The actors bring the characters to life purely through their acting and
dialogues alone.
10. What do you like most about the play? What was the least? Was the pace too slow/fast? Was
there a contrast between tone and general nature of the events? Was the characterization
convincing? Was the play too abstract/propagandist?
-What I find most fascinating about the play is how it portrays the reality of what it’s like
for a person to go through loss and how different each person deals with it. The way the
characters were not given any names allows the audience to relate themselves or their lives
through the story. Another interesting thing that I’ve learned is the fact that the author wrote this
during the time when his wife was suffering with cancer and it really reflected through his
works, making it even more human and realistic. The turn of events were absolutely perfect in
terms of pace as it was short and simple yet was able to provide a lot of information to the
audience. The transition between the different events were gradual as more details were given to
the audience and allowing them to piece out what was happening in the story. The play is far
from any form of propaganda as it simply shows what people go through in these situations. It
may be abstract but not too much to the point that it is unrealistic as the audience can very much
relate to what was happening in the story. The story itself is very much universal as even though
the setting is set in the Philippines, it is written in a way that even people from all around the
world can understand.