Note 7 — Manila Under Spanish Rule

The burthen of a native play in the provinces was almost invariably founded on the contests between the Mahometans of the South and the Christian natives under Spanish dominion.

The Spaniards, in attaching the denomination of Moros to the Mahometans of Sulu, associated them in name with the Mahometan Moors who held sway over a large part of Hispania for over seven centuries (711–1492). A “Moro Moro” performance is usually a drama—occasionally a melodrama—in which the native actors, clad in all the glittering finery of Mahometan nobility and Christian chivalry, assemble in battle array before the Mahometan princesses, to settle their disputes under the combined inspirations of love and religious persuasion. The princesses, one after the other, pining under the dictates of the heart in defiance of their creed, leave their fate to be sealed by the outcome of deadly combat between the contending factions. Armed to the teeth, the cavaliers of the respective parties march to and fro, haranguing each other in monotonous tones. After a long-winded, wearisome challenge, they brandish their weapons and meet in a series of single combats which merge in a general mêlée as the princes are vanquished and the hand of the disputed enchantress is won.

The dialogue is in the idiom of the district where the performance is given, and the whole play (lasting from four to six nights) is brief compared with Chinese melodrama, which often extends to a month of nights.

Judged from the standard of European histrionism, the plot is weak from the sameness and repetition of the theme. The declamation is unnatural, and void of vigour and emphasis. The same tone is maintained from beginning to end, whether it be in expression of expostulatory defiance, love, joy, or despair. But the masses were intensely amused; thus the full object was achieved. They seemed never to tire of gazing at the situations created and applauding vociferously the feigned defeat of their traditional arch-foes.