WRITTEN REPORT

IN

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE

FROM THE PHILIPPINES

AND THE WORLD

Submitted by:

BONGOLO, ANGEL

LAGARNIA, ANGEL ROSE

SUBMITTED TO:

MS. MAREVEL CABURNAY

 PHILIPPINE DRAMA / PHILIPPINE THEATER

Introduction

Drama comes from the Greek word dran which means “to do” or “to act". It is an

act of portraying fictional or non-fictional characters and events through the performance

of either a prose or a poetry (Longley 2019). A drama or a play is performed on stage

associated with music and dance. Creators of a drama are known as playwrights or

dramatists.

Just like any genre of literature, Philippine drama or Philippine Theater began with

precolonial indigenous drama which constitutes rituals, verbal jousts or games, and songs

and dances praising their respective gods. The early forms of Philippine drama were

duplo and karagatan (Punsalan, 2012). Duplo was a poetical debate held by trained men

and women in the ninth or last night of the mourning period for the dead. Karagatan, just

like duplo, was also a poetical debate, however its participants were amateurs.

Eventually, these indigenous dramas were discarded when the Spaniard came and

colonized the country. The Philippine indigenous drama was changed into two main

categories: the comedy or komedya and the zarzuela or sarswela. Komedya is a theater

dramatization of the conflicts between Christian and Muslim heroes. It usually ends with

the Christians as the victor. On the other hand, zarzuela is a Spanish lyric dramatic genre

that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, incorporated with operatic and popular

songs as well as dance. These dramas captured the imaginations and hearts of the

Filipinos.
Unlocking Difficulties

Below are some terms mentioned in the play “The World is an Apple”:

Derisively – the feeling that one expresses when one criticize and laugh at someone or

something

Pilfer – to steal a small amount of something

Ransack – to search for something in a way that causes disorder

Repent – expressing sorry for something that you did

Scornful – showing lack of respect

Scrawny – unactractively or unhealthily thin

Shabbily – dressed in old or worn clothes

Sinister – having an evil appearance

Sample Masterpiece

THE WORLD IS AN APPLE

THE CHARACTERS: Gloria, Mario, Pablo

SETTING: An improvised home behind a portion of the Intramuros walls. Two wooden
boxes flank the doorway. At left is an acacia tree with a wooden bench under it.

(Mario enters from the street at left. He is in his late twenties, shabbily dressed and
with hair that seems to have been uncut for weeks. He puts his lunch bag on the bench,
sits down, removes his shoes and puts them beside his lunch bag.)

GLORIA (calls from inside). Mario! Is that you, Mario?

MARIO Yes…
GLORIA (A small woman about Mario’s age, with long hair and a scrawny body,
comes out wiping her hands on her dress.) I’m glad you’re home early.
MARIO How is Tita? (Without waiting for an answer, he enters the dwelling.)
GLORIA (crosses to the bench). Don’t wake her up, Mario. She’s tired. She cried the
whole day.
MARIO (reappears and crosses to the bench and sits on one end). Has she been
eating well?
GLORIA She wouldn’t even eat a mouthful of lugao. But I’ll buy her some biscuits.
Maybe she’ll eat them. (She slips her fingers into his breast pocket.) I’ll take
some of the money –
MARIO (rises annoyed). Gloria! Can’t you wait a minute?
GLORIA (taken aback). Hey what’s the matter? Why are you suddenly so touchy?
MARIO Who wouldn’t be? I’m talking to about the child and you bother me by
ransacking my pockets! I wish you’d think more of our daughter.
GLORIA (crosses to the center). My God! Wasn’t I thinking of her? Why do you think
I need some money? To buy me a pretty dress? Or see a movie?
MARIO Tone down your voice. You’ll wake the child up.
GLORIA (low but intense). All I want is a little money to buy her something to eat!
She hasn’t eaten anything all day! That was why I was “bothering” you!
MARIO (repentant). I’m sorry, Gloria … (grips her arm and turns away.)
GLORIA It’s all right, Mario. Now may I have some of the money?
MARIO (turns to her). Money? I … I don’t have any … not right now.
GLORIA Today is pay day, Mario.
MARIO Yes … but …
GLORIA But what? Where’s your pay for the week?
MARIO I don’t … have it.
GLORIA What? I waited for you the whole day and you tell me –
MARIO (angry) – that I have nothing! Nothing! What do you want to do – steal?
GLORIA I’m not asking you to do a thing like that! All I want to know is what you did
to your pay?
MARIO (sits on the bench). Nothing is left of it.
GLORIA Nothing? What happened?
MARIO Oh, I had a few drinks with my friends. Before I knew it, I had spent every
centavo of it.
GLORIA (eyeing him intently). Mario, do you think you can make a fool of me?
Haven’t I seen you drunk before, crawling home like a wounded snake and
reeking of alcohol like a hospital? You don’t smell or look drunk.
MARIO All right, so I didn’t go drinking.
GLORIA But you pay – what happened to it?
MARIO It’s better that you don’t know, Gloria.
GLORIA Look, Mario, I’m your wife. I have the right to half of everything you get. If I
can’t have my share, I have the right to know at least where it went!
MARIO Gloria, you’ll feel better if you don’t know.
GLORIA I must know!
MARIO All right. (rises). I spend it all on another woman.
GLORIA Another woman? I don’t believe it. I know you wouldn’t do such a thing.
MARIO I didn’t know you had so much faith in me.
GLORIA No, Mario, what I mean is – you wouldn’t spend all your money when you
know your daughter may need some of it. You love her too much to do that.

(Mario sits down and buries his head in his hands. Gloria crosses to him and lays
a hand on his shoulder.)

GLORIA What’s wrong, Mario?

MARIO (turns his face away). Nothing Gloria, nothing.
GLORIA (sits beside him). I know something is wrong, Mario. I can feel it. Tell me
what it is.
MARIO (stares at the ground). Gloria, I’ve lost my job.
GLORIA (rises, shocked). Oh, no!
MARIO (looks up at her). It’s true, Gloria.
GLORIA What about your pay for the whole week?
MARIO I lost my job a week ago.
GLORIA And you never even told me!
MARIO I thought I could get another without making you worry.
GLORIA Do you think you could get another in five months? It took you that long to
get the last one?
MARIO It won’t take me as long to get another.
GLORIA But how did you lose it?
MARIO (rises and turns away). What’s the use of talking about it? That won’t bring
it back.
GLORIA (suddenly, in an agonized voice.) Mario!
MARIO (turns around). Yes?
GLORIA What did they accuse you of?
MARIO Just what you mean to say, Pilfering, they call it.
GLORIA What else, would you call it? (Pause). What, according to them, did you
steal?
MARIO (low). It was nothing much, really nothing at all.
GLORIA What was it?
MARIO It was – an apple.
GLORIA An apple! You mean –
MARIO Yes, and they kicked me out for it, for taking one, single apple. Not a dozen,
not a crate –
GLORIA That’s what you get for not stopping to think before you do something.
MARIO (sits down). Could I have guessed they would do that for one apple? When
there were millions of them? (pause). We were hauling them to the
warehouse. I saw one roll out of a broken crate. It was that big
(demonstrates). It looked so delicious. Suddenly I found myself putting it in
my lunch bag.
GLORIA That’s the trouble with you, when you think of your own stomach, you think
of nothing else!
MARIO (rises). I was not thinking of myself!
GLORIA Whom were you thinking of – me? Did I ever ask you to bring home an
apple? I am not as crazy as that.
MARIO I was thinking of our child.
GLORIA Tita? Why? Did she ever ask for apples?
MARIO Yes, she did. (pause). Do you remember the day I took her out for a walk?
On our way home we passed a grocery that sold “delicious” apples at
seventy centavos each. She wanted me to buy one for her but I did not have
seventy centavos. I bought her one of those small green apples they sell on
the sidewalk, but she just threw it away, saying it was not a real apple. Then
she cried. (pause). So when I saw the apple roll out of the broken crate, I
thought that Tita would love to have it.
GLORIA You should have tried to bring home pan-de-sal, or rice, or milk – not those
“delicious” apples. We’re not rich. We can live without apples.
MARIO Why? Did God create apple trees to bear fruit for the rich alone? Didn’t He
create the whole world for everyone? That’s why I tried to bring the apple
home for Tita. When we brought her into this world, we sort of promised her
everything she had a right to have in life.
GLORIA So, for a measly apple, you lost a job you needed so much –
MARIO I wouldn’t mind losing a thousand jobs for an apple for my daughter.
GLORIA Where is this apple you prize so much? Were you able to give it to Tita?
MARIO No. They kept it – as evidence. (Sits down).
GLORIA See? You lost your job trying to filch an apple and you even lost the apple
for which you lost your job. (Gloria puts away the shoes and the lunch bag.
She sits on the steps and they remain silent for a time).
GLORIA (rising). Filching an apple – that’s too small a reason to kick a poor man out
of work. You should ask them to give a second chance, Mario.
MARIO They won’t do that.
GLORIA Why not?
MARIO (rises). Can’t you see they had been waiting for me to make a slip like that?
They’ve wanted to throw me out for any reason so that they may bring their
own men in.
GLORIA You should complain –
MARIO Suppose I did? What would they do? They would dig up my police record.
GLORIA (crosses to him). But, Mario, that was so long ago. Why would they try to
dig that thing up?
MARIO They would do anything to keep out. (holds her arm). But don’t worry. I’ll
find another job. It isn’t really so hard to look for a job nowadays. (From this
point, he avoids her eyes). You know, I’ve been job-hunting for a week now.
And I think I have found a good job.
GLORIA There you go lying again.
MARIO Believe me. I’m not lying this time.
GLORIA (crosses to the center). You’re always lying – I can’t tell when you’re telling
the truth.
MARIO In fact I’ll see someone tonight who knows of a company that needs a night
watchman.
GLORIA (holds his arm). Aren’t you only trying to make me feel better, Mario?
MARIO No, Gloria.
GLORIA Honest?
MARIO (avoids her eyes). Honest! (sits down).
GLORIA (sighs happily, looks up). I knew God wouldn’t let us down. He never lets
anybody down. I’ll pray tonight and ask Him to let you have that job. (looks
at Mario). But, Mario, would it mean that you’d have to stay out all night?
MARIO That would be all right. I can always sleep by the day.
GLORIA (brushes against him like a cat). What I mean is it will be different when you
aren’t by my side at night. (walks away from him). But, oh, I think I’ll get
used to it. (crosses to the center and turns around). Why don’t you go and
see this friend of yours now? Anyway you don’t have anything to do tonight.
Don’t you think it’s wise to see him as early as you can?
MARIO (after a pause). Yes, I think I’ll do that. (Gloria crosses to the steps to get
his shoes, followed by Mario).
GLORIA (hands him the shoes). Here, Mario, put these on and go. I’ll stay up and
wait for you. (Sits on the steps and watches him.)
MARIO (putting on the shoes). No, Gloria, you must not wait for me. I may be back
quite late.
GLORIA All right. But I doubt if I can sleep a wink until you return.
MARIO (Gloria comes up to him after he finishes and tries to hug him, but he pushes
her away. Suddenly confused, he sits on the steps. Gloria sits beside him
and plays with his hands).
GLORIA Mother was wrong. You know before we got married, she used to tell me,
“Gloria you’ll commit the greatest mistake of your life if you marry that good-
for-nothing loafer! You can’t make him any straighter than you would a
crooked wire with your bare hands.” Oh, I wish she were living now. She
would have seen how much you’ve changed – (She sees someone behind
the tree: Pablo, He has been watching them for a time. He is older than
Mario, sinister-looking, and well dressed).
PABLO (sarcastic). Hmmmmmm. How romantic!
MARIO Pablo! (suddenly unnerved, Mario starts to fidget. There is an uncomfortable
silence as Gloria rises and walks to the center, her eyes burning with hate.
Pablo lights a cigarette, never taking his eyes off her.)
PABLO You’re not glad to see me, are you? (Puts a foot on the bench).
GLORIA (angry) What are you doing here? What do you want?
PABLO Saaaaay! Is that the right way to receive a friend who has come a-visiting?
GLORIA We don’t care for your visits!
PABLO You haven’t changed a bit, Gloria … not a bit.
GLORIA Neither have you, I can see!
PABLO You’re still the same woman who cursed me to hell because I happened to
be Mario’s friend long before you met him. Time has not made you any
kinder to me. You still hate me, don’t you?
GLORIA Yes! And I wish you’d stay away from us for the rest of our lives!
PABLO Am I not staying away from you?
GLORIA Then why are you here?
PABLO God! May I not even drop in now and then to see if life has been kind to
you? How are you getting along?
GLORIA (scornfully). We were doing well until you showed up!
PABLO Your daughter – she was only that high when I saw her last – how is she?
GLORIA (curtly). She’s all right!
PABLO Oh, and I thought she had not been very well.
GLORIA (suspicious). How did you know? (To Mario), Did you tell him?
MARIO (stammering). I … no … how could I? I haven’t seen him in a long, long time
… (sits down). Until now of course…
PABLO What is she sick with?
GLORIA (curtly). We don’t know!
PABLO Don’t you think you should take her to a doctor? (Puts his foot down and
pulls out his wallet). Here, I’ll lend you a few pesos. It may help your
daughter to get well.
GLORIA (scornfully). We need it all right – but no, thank you!
PABLO Why don’t you take it?
GLORIA Paying you back will only mean seeing your face again.
PABLO Well, if you hate my face so much, you don’t have to pay me back. Take it
as a gift.
GLORIA The more reason I should refuse it!
PABLO All right, if that’s how much you want it. (sits down and plays with the wallet).
GLORIA Mario has stopped depending on you since the day I took him away from
your clutches!
PABLO Haven’t you realized by now that it was a terrible mistake – your taking him
away from my “clutches”?
GLORIA I have no regrets.
PABLO How about Mario? Has he no regrets either?
GLORIA He has none.
PABLO How can you be so sure? When he and I were pals, we could go to first-
class air-conditioned movie houses every other day. I’ll bet the money I
have here now (brandishing his wallet) that he has not been to one since
you “liberated” him from me. And that was almost four years ago.
GLORIA One cannot expect too much from honest money – and we don’t.
PABLO (rises and walks about). What is honest money? Does it look better than
dishonest money? Does it buy more? Or honesty? What is it? Dressing like
that? Staying in this dungeon you call a house? Is that what you so
beautifully call “honesty”?
MARIO (rises). Pablo
PABLO (derisively). See what happened to your daughter. That is what honesty has
done to her. And how can honesty help her now? She’s not sick and she
needs no medicine. You know that. – You know very well that she needs:
food, good food. She’s under-nourished, isn’t she?
MARIO Pablo!
GLORIA I know you have come to lead him back to your dishonest ways, but you
can’t. He won’t listen to you now! We have gone this far and we can go on
living without your help!
PABLO (sarcastic). You call this living? This, Gloria, is what you call dying – dying
slowly-minute by minute. (laughs).
MARIO (crosses to him and shakes him). Pablo stop it! (Pablo stops.) You shouldn’t
have come –
PABLO (Brushes him off). I got tired of waiting for you!
GLORIA So you have been seeing each other! I was afraid so!
PABLO He came to the house yesterday – Pablo, don’t!
MARIO Pablo, don’t!
PABLO (ignoring Mario) – He said he would be back this noon. But he didn’t show
up. I came because I was afraid his conscience was bothering him.
MARIO Pablo, I told you she should not know!
PABLO It’s all right, Mario. You’d better tell her everything. She’s bound to know
later. Tell her what you told me: that you no longer believe in the way she
wanted you to live. Tell her. (Mario turns his back on them).
GLORIA (crosses to Mario). Mario… is this what you meant by another job? Oh,
Mario … you promised me you were through with him. You said you’d go
straight … and never go back to that kind of life…
MARIO (turns around and holds her arm, stammering). Gloria … you … you must
try to understand … I tried … I tried long and hard … but I could not lift us
out of this kind of life …
GLORIA (crosses to the center and shouts at Pablo). You‘re to blame for this, you
son-of-the-Devil! You’ve come to him when you know he’s down –
PABLO He came to me first –
GLORIA - when you know he’ll cling to anything and do anything! Even return to the
life he hates! (crosses to him and tries to strike him.) Get out of our sight!
Get out!
PABLO (easily warding off her fists). All right, all right, I’ll leave – just as soon as
Mario is ready to go.
GLORIA He’s not going with you! (crosses to center)
PABLO Is that so? Why don’t you ask him? (sits on the bench, grinding.)
GLORIA (shouts). I said he’s not going!
PABLO (points to Mario). Go on, ask him.
GLORIA (turns to Mario). You’re not going with him, are you, Mario? Tell that crook
you’re not going with him anywhere! Tell him to leave us and never come
back! Tell him to go, please, Mario, please …
MARIO (holds her arm). Gloria, I …
GLORIA Mario … I know he has talked to you and tried to poison your mind again …
but don’t go with him. This is still the better way of life. If things have not
been turning out well, you must know that God is not letting us down. He is
only trying us.
MARIO (holds her). Gloria, I …
GLORIA (pulls away from him). You’re going! I can see that you want to go with him.
Ohhhhh ……. (cries). You’ll leave me here again, wondering whether you’ll
be shot in the head or sent to jail!
PABLO (behind the tree). Don’t worry about him, Gloria. He’s safe with me. He won’t
come anywhere near jail. I’ve got connections –
GLORIA (like a berserk beast, she rushes at him and claws his face). You hideous
beast! You … You … Get out! Get out!
MARIO (pulls her away). You stay there, Pablo, I’ll be with you in a minute. (Leads
her to the steps.)

(Pablo fixes his clothes, cursing.)

MARIO (firmly) Gloria, I’m going with him.

GLORIA Don’t Mario, don’t …
MARIO You can’t make me stop now. I’ve thought about this since last week.
GLORIA No, no Mario, no … (holds fast to him).
MARIO (loosens her hold). You take good care of yourself and our child. I’ll take
good care of myself. Don’t wait up for me. I’ll come home very late.

(Mario walks away with Pablo. Gloria stares dumbly at them, too spent to run after
them. Then she shouts.)

GLORIA MARIOOOOOO!

(She covers her face with her dress and cries into it. From inside, the daughter,
joins her in crying as the curtains close.)
Discussion

Alberto S. Florentino was considered a literary treasure, one who had contributed

a lot to Philippine literature as author, playwright, publisher, and teacher. He is the author

and playwright of the famed “The World is an Apple." The themes he usually tackles about

deals with everyday scenarios of a commoner's life. He usually portrays the struggles of

Filipinos.

He was born on July 28, 1931 in Nueva Ecija, Philippines, the second of seven

children. He died on September 22, 2018. Florentino’s father, then a teacher who’s active

on school activities such as organizing dramas and choral groups, assigned young

Alberto to type the scripts he needed for the plays that he was writing and directing. This

helped lead Alberto Florentino into playwriting.

Alberto Florentino was 23 years old and an accounting student at the University of

the East, when he wrote the one-act play, "The World is an Apple" that won the Carlos

Palanca Award. This success at his first serious attempt at playwriting made him abandon

his accounting studies to become a writer. He has since written more than 50 plays for

stage, four more of which won Palanca Awards, namely The Cadaver, The Dancers,

Cavort with Angels and Oli Impan. He also wrote 100 plays for television and cinema

such as the award-winning TV drama series Balintataw in the early ‘70s.

Aside from being a five-time Palanca awardee, Alberto Florentino was a two-time

Arena Theater winner. He was awarded a Patnubay ng Kalinganan Award from the City

of Manila. He also received a Presidential Medal of Merit in 2008.

Analysis and Interpretation

The World is an Apple is a play that depicts social realities especially to the lower

bracket of the society. The characters are Gloria, a loving mother and wife; Mario, Gloria's

husband; Tina, daughter of the couple; and Pablo, Mario’s friend and a dishonest person.

The play was set at an improvised home behind the Intramuros walls. Two wooden boxes

flanked the doorway. At left is an acacia tree with a wooden bench under it.

To discuss the plot, the exposition is when Mario arrived home finding Gloria doing

household chores. The rising action is when Gloria asked money from Mario to buy food

for their daughter. The latter couldn't provide it which led them to quarrel. Gloria then

found out that Mario lost his job a week ago because he stole an apple. The climax of the

play is when Pablo enters the scene and told Gloria that Mario is back in his former

dishonest job with him. The falling action is when Gloria pleaded Mario not to leave with

Pablo and the resolution of the play is Mario deciding to do his former job with Pablo and

left his wife and daughter crying, watching him leave.

The story centers around poverty that became a factor in choosing between what

is right and what is wrong. It is the main reason why Mario considers stealing as an option

to make money. The road towards an easy and a comfortable life is not simple, instead it

is hard to reach. However, one must not forget to conform to society's norms because

one's action is weighed right or wrong.

The play also talks about contentment and classism. In the particular line of Gloria,

“You should have tried to bring home pan-de-sal, or rice, or milk – and not those delicious

apples. We're not rich. We can live without apples.” There is contentment in a sense that
Gloria wouldn't mind not having apples as long as they can live in an everyday basis.

Classism is seen in the text, when Gloria emphasizedd to Mario that he shouldn't have

brought an apple home because they are not rich. Gloria is indulge in this belief that poor

people should not aspire for better things.

The play also showed how much a father could do for his daughter. It showed how

much he would risks for his family to be able to live an easy life even in dishonest means.

(Mario: I wouldn't mind losing a thousand jobs for an apple for my daughter!)

Religion is also reflected in the play. Gloria believed that God will provide for them

if they only believe and pray. She even pointed out that what they are experiencing at the

moment, a financial crisis is a challenge by God. Gloria believed that their only hope is

religion – God.

The apple symbolizes temptations that might cause people to live a dishonest life.

Mario is a father who lost his job for stealing a single apple, in which he intended to give

to his daughter. Left with no choice and filled with a sense of helplessness, he resorted

to his old ways of life wherein he could easily get a hefty amount of money through

dishonest and illegal ways. Amidst the cries and pleas of his wife, Gloria as and his

daughter, Tina, Mario left with Pablo, his partner-in-crime. The World is an Apple is a sad

representation of what is happening in our society. Due to lack or better opportunities,

men are conformed to illegal things. It evidently show how the poor struggle in order to

survive their everyday living.

Conclusion

In the face of modernization, Philippine Drama or Philippine Theater has evolved

in many ways. However, it will always go back to what Filipinos want: fun, music, dance

and stories integrated with contemporary issues wherein they can relate to. For most

writers, the publication of a short story, novel or poem is considered as the final step in

the long creative process. Playwrights, on the other hand, are rarely satisfied with its

publication since a drama or a play is technically written to be performed by actors on

stage before an audience, which means that they still have to consider the actors, the

directors, producers, designers, technicians, etc.

A one-act play, like most of Albert Florentino's works, means that the entire play

takes place in a one single location and unfolds as one continuous action. The World is

an Apple, Florentino's first play and a one-act play written in English, was about the

struggling but surviving residents of the Manila slums. It represents our society, the

people that lives in it, and how they struggle to live in an everyday basis. Mario lost his

job. Wanting to get his family out of poverty, he decided to work with Pablo and go back

to his old ways – stealing just to earn money. This dilemma all started with an apple. Filled

with hopes of making his little girl happy, he took one apple, a single apple. Like a domino,

one by one the pieces fell down The hope turned into hopelessness and it ended with

heartbreaking pleas and cries.

References

Longley, R. (May 25, 2019). What is Drama? Literary Definition and Examples. Retrieved

from https://www.thoughtco.com/drama-literary-definition-4171972

Punsalan, K. (June 11, 2012). Philippine Drama. Retrieved from

https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/KrisPunsalan/philippines-drama

LiterarX (March 6, 2012). Notes on What is Philippine Drama. Retrieved from

http://linglithumanities.blogspot.com/2012/03/notes-on-what-is-philippine-

drama.html?m=1

Grado, M. (January 28, 2017) . Lesson 1 Zarzuela (Sarswela). Retrieved from

https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/MegGrado/lesson-1-zarzuelssarswela

Hornedo, F. (2007). Komedya. Retrieved from

https://www.accu.or.jp/ich/en/arts/A_PHL1.html

Soriano, M.L. (September 25, 2011). The World is an Apple by Alberto Florentino.

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Alberto-Florentino