I caught the October 2 opening of the About Us But Not About Us re-run at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater in Circuit Makati. Romnick Sarmenta, Elijah Canlas and Epy Quizon were back in the roles they originated in February. The play is almost all talk, and it still landed on me like a punch. By the time it reached its peak, I was crying.

This October run is the last time the three of them will play these roles together. If it’s been on your list since the first run, this is the month to go.

From the Film to the Stage

Jun Robles Lana wrote and directed the film first. It premiered at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia in 2022. A few months later it won 10 awards at the first Metro Manila Summer Film Festival, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Sarmenta won Best Actor there, and again at the Gawad Urian the following year.

The story follows Eric, a literature professor, and Lancelot, his student, over one long dinner during the pandemic. They meet at a restaurant known for its steak and apple pie, not long after the death of Eric’s partner, Marcus. The dinner starts as comfort and slowly becomes a standoff, and each confession shifts the power between teacher and student.

Lana adapted his own screenplay for IdeaFirst Live!, the theater arm of The IdeaFirst Company, and brought in Tuxqs Rutaquio to direct. The two have worked together on stage before: Rutaquio also directed IdeaFirst Live!’s staging of Lana’s Anino sa Likod ng Buwan. This play premiered on February 14 and ran until March 8. This October, it returns to the same blackbox for one more round.

The Room Rutaquio Built

A blackbox is a small, flexible performance space where the audience sits close to the actors. For a play built on dialogue, that closeness does a lot of the work. You catch every pause, and you notice the moment someone stops meeting the other person’s eyes.

Rutaquio’s restaurant is more suggestion than set. The stage revolves, so the dinner table turns as the upper hand changes. Sliding screens open and close to let the past step in beside the present. Text messages and videos are projected for everyone to read, so the private exchanges play out in public. Behind it all hangs a backdrop of crumpled paper, which fits a story about the versions people write of each other. John Batalla’s lighting, TJ Ramos’s sound and Frances Valera’s video design keep the jumps in time clear, so you never lose your place even as the night folds back on itself.

The pandemic setting matters more on stage than I expected. The isolation of that period explains how two people this far apart in age and position ended up this close. The restaurant turns into a kind of confessional, and a waiter drifting in and out gives the room a breath before the next blow.

Marcus Walks In

In the film, Marcus is only talked about. On stage, he’s there. Quizon originated the role and now alternates it with theater director Andoy Ranay. Lana has said the addition “makes the story entirely different,” and for anyone who has seen the film, it does. You walk in thinking you know where the night is headed, and then the man everyone has been describing steps into the light and answers back.

The ending changes too. Without spoiling it, the play lands somewhere more direct than the film’s open final beat. If you’ve seen the movie, that alone is a reason to go.

Elijah Canlas as Lancelot

I’ve always been a fan of Elijah Canlas, and he doesn’t disappoint. He has carried Lancelot since the film, and this October run is his last time in the role.

What gave me the feels was how he moves between two versions of Lancelot: the shy, eager student, and someone much bolder who seems to know exactly what he’s doing. He switches between them as the night goes on, and every switch changes the direction of the conversation. On stage there are no cuts, so you watch the whole arc happen in real time. I kept going back and forth on whether Lancelot was the one getting hurt or the one doing the hurting.

Canlas is also in cinemas right now as activist Edgar Jopson in Edjop, so October is a good month to see his range on screen and on stage.

Epy Quizon as Marcus

Marcus is the most interesting character in the play for me, because he’s the one we knew least. The film only mentions him, so those of us who had seen it came in knowing him only through other people’s accounts. The more Quizon showed us, the more I wanted to know. His Marcus is a man whose success hasn’t quieted what’s going on inside him, and Quizon makes the character his own.

It was my first time watching Quizon in theater, and he was a revelation. Most of us know him, and his father Dolphy, from the screen. Here he holds his own against two actors who have lived with this material since the film.

My one wish is that his mic had been a bit louder during his whispered lines. Those are the moments when Marcus lets his guard down, and I wanted to hear every word.

Romnick Sarmenta as Eric

It was also my first time watching Romnick Sarmenta perform live, and in English at that. I rode his emotions the whole way through.

Sarmenta’s Eric believes he’s a good man. He’s warm and generous and quick to look after people, and the play slowly shows how much of that looking after is also control. Sarmenta never pushes him into villainy, which makes the cracks hurt more when they show.

The peak for me was the confrontation between Eric and Lancelot, when Eric feels betrayed and stops holding back. That scene kicked, and that’s where I started crying.

Sarmenta won Best Actor twice for playing Eric on film. Watching him do it live, with no retakes and no close-ups to lean on, I understood why.

The English Question

The play is performed entirely in English, and some critics have pushed back on that. One review argued that the language adds a polish that keeps the pain at arm’s length. I see the point. These characters are educated and comfortable, and English is part of how they protect themselves. In the room, though, I never felt that distance from Eric. When Sarmenta finally broke, I was too busy wiping my eyes to think about the language.

The Verdict

About Us But Not About Us kept me at the edge of my seat, and at the edge of my emotions, from start to finish. It runs for around two hours with no intermission, so bring a handkerchief.

Seeing the film first helps, especially once Marcus enters and the ending changes course, but you don’t need it. The play stands on its own.

If you want Sarmenta, Canlas and Quizon together, October is your last chance. Each role has an alternate this run: Rutaquio himself as Eric, Kobie Brown as Lancelot, and Ranay as Marcus. Check the cast schedule before you book. As producer The IdeaFirst Company put it, “Elijah brings the Lancelot audiences already love. Kobie brings his own.”

I’d love to see the alternates take on these roles too, and I’ll write about them once I’ve caught that version.

This is a play for mature audiences, and for anyone who loves theater where a few people talking in a room is the whole drama.

Where and When

• Venue: Power Mac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater, Circuit Makati
• Dates: October 2–25, 2026. Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays and Sundays at 3 PM and 8 PM
• Tickets: ₱3,920 (VIP), ₱3,360 (Orchestra Center), ₱2,800 (Orchestra Side), via Ticket2Me
• Running time: Around two hours, no intermission
• Language: English
• Age: 18 and up only
• Production: Written by Jun Robles Lana, directed by Tuxqs Rutaquio, produced by IdeaFirst Live!