There was a genuine sense of anticipation in the theatre on opening night. The house was full, not only with audiences but with fellow artists and producers supporting Sapatos Angels Collective and the continued development of Donita Cruz’s IMELDA. It felt fitting. As Australian theatre continues to embrace stories from an increasingly diverse range of voices, IMELDA offers a perspective still too rarely seen on our stages. These are stories and communities that exist all around us, yet are seldom given this kind of theatrical platform.
This is not a biography of Imelda Marcos. Instead, Cruz uses the former First Lady of the Philippines as the catalyst for a story about migration, family and belonging. Maria Clara (Alex Gonzalez), a first-generation Filipino living in Australia, is visited by the ghost of her late mother in the form of Imelda Marcos (Teresa Tate Britten), drawing her into memories that are both personal and unmistakably political. Through Maria Clara’s relationship with her mother, the play explores the experience of inheriting a connection to a homeland known through family stories, cultural memory and history as much as through personal experience. The ghost becomes more than a theatrical device; it represents inherited memories, unresolved histories and the ties that continue to bind people to a place once called home.
The bilingual script is presented authentically, with English and Tagalog shaping the characters’ experiences and identities. Audiences familiar with the Marcos era and Philippine politics will recognise references that hold particular significance, while others are invited into a world shaped by cultural memory and migration.
Alex Gonzalez delivers the standout performance of the evening. In a role carrying much of the play’s narrative weight, Gonzalez commands a dense, dialogue-heavy script with clarity, warmth and a strong sense of emotional connection. Teresa Tate Britten brings an honest intensity to the dual presence of Maria Clara’s mother and Imelda Marcos, presenting a complex figure who exists somewhere within memory, history and mythology. Tamara Lee Bailey and Ahlex Leyva move between multiple roles throughout the production, creating distinct characters and contributing to the ensemble’s energy and rhythm.
Aden Abeleda’s direction serves the text, maintaining focus on the relationships and the storytelling. The traverse staging inevitably presents challenges, but the cast negotiates the space confidently, maintaining connection with audiences on both sides of the performance area. Lighting, sound and multimedia provide context and atmosphere while supporting the emotional core of the work.
What lingers after the final scene is the way IMELDA explores the relationship between personal memory and collective history. Cruz asks audiences to consider the stories inherited through family, the histories carried across generations and the ways identity continues to be shaped by the places we leave behind and the places we call home.
The figure of Imelda becomes more than a reference to a contested political legacy. She exists alongside the expectations, sacrifices and unresolved questions passed between generations. For Filipino-Australian audiences, these questions of belonging, responsibility and connection to the Philippines may carry particular weight, while for others the production offers insight into lived experiences often removed from our own.
The ghosts in IMELDA are not simply figures from the past; they are reminders that history continues to shape the stories we tell about ourselves, our families and the places we call home.
