Friday, February 18, 2011

The New Yorker in Tondo : A Satiric Comedy Play

"New Yorker in Tondo" is a classic Filipino Play by Marcelino Agana, Jr. It is a satire written in the 50's. It is a story about a girl named Kikay who goes to New York and fell in love with it. She acquires all the New Yorkish things - style, looks, language and manners. These things are very obvious when she arrives in the Philippines specifically in Tondo. 

Aling Atang, mother of Kikay, has been carried away by her daughters way of living. She tries to converse with everybody in broken English. 

Tony, childhood sweetheart of Kikay, decides to visit and catch things up with her friend. He is a simple guy who got secretly engaged with their other childhood friend, Nena. 

Nena is a tomboyish type of girl. On her visit in Kikay's house, she finds her friend different and weird. She gets irritated and even imitates Kikay's ways. 

Totoy, the Tondo "canto boy" is their other friend who is funny and has a secret love for Nenan which has only been revealded when the two females had a clash. 

Near the end, the secret love of the characters in the story is revealded. And the two pairs end up in each other's arms. Kikay is back to her old self -- simple and kind. Most of all, the Filipino value learned by the protagonist which is "there is no place like home", is a lesson on love of country and its culture.

1 comment:

  1. Well , in that post ' we will see that there is already a moral lesson and if how the story goes between Nenan, whose also known as kikay that came from Newyork, the main character and Totoy, the canto boy.

    The characters are made to be as a couple.

    The lesson here is love first your country, and don't ever forget the culture of it.

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