Theatre in Review: House Rules (Ma-Yi Theater Company/HERE)One man's health crisis sets off shock waves among two interconnected Filipino-American families in A. Rey Pamatmat's comedy-drama. Ernie suffers what appears to be a stroke -- the script is never clear about what it is -- while in church; two months later, he is still bedridden, crippled by pain and frequently subject to delusions, thanks to his medications. As it happens, Ernie has been admitted to the hospital where his son, Rod, aka Toto, is a physician. This isn't really an optimal situation, since Ernie is in contention for the title of worst patient in the world -- soiling himself in bed, demanding that those who attend to him "shoot me in the goddam face," and denouncing Rod as "a useless piece of shit." This is especially problematic because in his altered state, Ernie has no idea he is speaking to Rod. Beyond Ernie, Rod has a plateful of problems. The day his father took ill, Rod was making plans for his wedding to his longtime partner, Henry. Since then, Henry, also a doctor, has withdrawn the proposal, which is especially awkward, since they are attached to the same hospital. Henry's frequent attempts at maintaining friendly relations -- most notably his petition to be assigned to Ernie's case -- are met with furious rebuffs from Rod. Meanwhile, JJ, Rod's younger brother, a former rising star in the world of comic books, has returned from Los Angeles, announcing that he was fired from his job on a top publication; he spends most of his time on Rod's couch. Even though he was always the favorite son, he refuses to visit Ernie. Ernie's collapse in church happened in front of Vera, a longtime family friend, who is herself a nurse. Vera's daughter, Momo, is a colleague of Rod and Henry's. Also on the day of Ernie's collapse, Twee, Vera's elder daughter, a photographer, learned that she had been awarded a substantial grant. Now, two months later, she is back at home, having blown the money on a trip to India, with nothing to show for it. Momo and Vera (and Rod, too) have apartments in the same building, which allows Momo to drop in for the occasional sisterly catfight. With all these tangled lives, you might think that Rod, Henry, and Momo were attending physicians at General Hospital but one of the strengths of Pamatmat's script is how he orchestrates the action, keeping all of the narrative balls in the air. This is especially true of the prologue, which establishes the characters and crosscuts between various plotlines with an efficiency that suggests he has a bright future as a screenwriter. He also provides some interesting insights into the characters' specific ethnic milieus -- including the very different adaptations of Ernie and Vera, who are both immigrants, and the complicated feelings the younger characters have about learning Tagalog, their parents' native language. But the main business of House Rules is isolating that moment when young adults realize that their mothers and fathers -- whether loved, loathed, or something in-between -- won't be around forever, and pretty soon the play descends into a round of tedious family therapy sessions, with everyone hashing out his or her not-very-original feelings at length. Despite the procession of largely banal emotional revelations, House Rules remains watchable, largely because, under the direction of Ralph B. Peña, a skillful cast works at downplaying the characters' often-immature, self-pitying characteristics. Tina Chilip's Twee is spiky on the surface, yet touchingly vulnerable underneath; if she gives as good as she gets in her family battles, she shows an easy charm in her scenes with JJ, who becomes her lover. Jojo Gonzalez's Ernie is a thoroughly believable rolling calamity of a father, yet he also captures the fear haunting him due to his rapidly deteriorating condition. The great Mia Katigbak has to put up with some standard sitcom outrageous-mother business in her early scenes ("I shot you out, I can put you back!" she informs her fractious daughters), but she more than rises to the occasion in an aria recalling the daring with which she left her homeland behind in search of a better life. Jeffrey Omura never quite convinces us that JJ's life was altered by a momentary revelation of existential angst -- the script's fault, not his -- but he brings a real sensitivity to JJ's scenes with Rod and Twee. Similarly, Conrad Schott struggles to make believable Henry's frivolous decision to scrap his wedding plans, but there's something genuinely touching in his attempts at winning Rod back. Tiffany Villarin captures Momo's weariness at always being the good daughter and earning little credit for it. James Yaegashi's Rod is a model of saintly patience in dealing with Ernie, but, interestingly, he also displays distinctly Ernie-ish characteristics when venting his anger at Henry. Working with the unusually deep playing space at HERE, Reid Thompson's set ingeniously scatters a series of playing areas -- apartments, restaurants, hallways -- with Ernie's hospital room in the center. Oliver Wason's lighting neatly demarcates each of these locations, cleverly creating pathways consisting of blocks of light as the characters move around the stage. Martin Schnellinger's costumes feel right for each character. Fabian Obispo's sound design -- including such effects as a plane taking off, ambient restaurant noises, and a jazz trumpet rendition of "Tenderly" -- all fit their respective moments. In the end, House Rules feels like the work of a writer who, having made a discovery, rushes to tell the world about it, unaware that it is already common knowledge. In dealing with the unmoored feeling that young adults often experience when faced with their parents' mortality, the play has little that is new to add to the conversation. -- David Barbour 
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