Double Take Review: Reverse Card and AL.TER Let Queer Pain Echo Without Glorifying It

Promotional material for Double Take: Reverse Card & AL.TER. Image courtesy of Kho-Lab Productions and Artist Playground.

Review by Saul de Jesus

What to know: Double Take: Reverse Card & AL.TER is a twin bill presented by Kho-Lab Productions, in collaboration with Artist Playground, directed by Paul Jake Paule. I watched the June 20, 2026, 3:00 PM performance at Illumination Studio, Makati, with CJ Tiongson and Drei Arias in AL.TER, and Inah Evans and Gerald Magallanes in Reverse Card.

Content note: This review discusses a production with themes that may be uncomfortable or triggering, including grief, bullying, manipulation, trauma, and self-harm. The review avoids spelling out every major reveal, but it discusses the emotional shape of both plays.

Before Double Take even began, the production made its first responsible choice.

A projected message with voiceover warned the audience that the show would contain themes that may trigger or make us uncomfortable. It also reminded us that it was okay to step out if needed. For a production dealing with this kind of material, that kind of framing is not cosmetic. It is part of the responsibility.

I would still have appreciated seeing a mental health partner formally attached to the show, especially because of how heavy some of the material can get. But the production did not stop at a warning. It also pointed audiences toward where help may be found.

The strongest part of that pre-show message was its clarity of intent. It acknowledged that the realities onstage may echo from the walls of the performance space, but they are not there to glorify pain. They are there so people can be aware, think, and hopefully transform what they carry out of the room.

That distinction matters because Double Take is not gentle theater. It looks at hurt directly. It can be funny, entertaining, intimate, and even camp-adjacent in certain choices, but it is also built around wounds that do not disappear just because people learn how to survive them.

That is what makes it worth talking about. Double Take does not ask the audience to be comfortable. It asks the audience to pay attention.

AL.TER comes first, and it works because the acting holds the device

The afternoon started with AL.TER, and in the version I watched, the piece had a stronger emotional pull than I expected.

CJ Tiongson had amazing comedic timing. What could have easily become throwaway humor became breath. CJ knew when to land a line, when to underplay a reaction, and when to let the audience laugh without letting the scene lose its ache. That mattered because AL.TER deals with grief in a way that can become too heavy if every beat is played at the same emotional temperature.

Then there was Drei Arias, who was surprisingly amazing in the acting demands placed on him. The role requires clarity, not only in delivery but in presence. Drei had to make the audience understand the emotional and creative device at the center of the play, and without that level of acting, the device would not have worked. It needed an actor who could make the unraveling feel believable, not just theatrical.

That was the strongest thing about this performance of AL.TER. The conceit could have easily felt like a writing trick. Instead, it slowly revealed itself as an emotional trap. You watch a grieving person reach for something impossible, and the play asks you to understand why the impossible feels more bearable than reality.

There are parts that could still be tightened. Some transitions and beats can move with more precision, especially because the emotional point of the material is already clear. But in the version I witnessed, AL.TER hit the mark. It did not need to be perfect to work. It just needed to make the ache recognizable, and it did.

Reverse Card is the more difficult half to sit with

I had heard that Reverse Card was particularly triggering if you were not ready for it. After seeing it, I understand why.

This is the kind of material where performance style can make or break the experience. If the acting becomes too grim, the show risks becoming suffocating. If it becomes too playful, the material risks losing its danger. That is why Inah Evans’ Marvin worked so well for me.

With Inah Evans after the June 20 performance of Double Take: Reverse Card & AL.TER at Illumination Studio, Makati.

Inah’s Marvin was extremely entertaining, but never in a way that diluted the themes. Inah brought ad libs, rhythm, and personal style that made the material more breathable. That is a difficult balance. The performance gave the audience places to breathe without pretending that the room was safe.

I was able to speak with Inah after the show, and I thanked Inah for how much personality was brought into Marvin. Inah shared that this version of Marvin was shaped through collaboration. That made sense because the performance did not feel like someone merely executing a role. It felt like an actor finding the personal engine of a character and letting that engine disturb the room.

It was amazing to see Inah as an actor in this kind of material. I know Inah will be part of more productions soon. Inah just has to be.

Opposite Inah, Gerald Magallanes brought experience and control to John. Gerald grounded the role enough that John did not become a flat villain, but he also made him effectively irritating in the way a manipulator should be. You understand why the character is dangerous because he does not always announce himself as danger. Sometimes he simply occupies the space with the confidence of someone used to getting away with things.

That is what made the reversal satisfying. John is a manipulator, and watching him realize he may not have as much control as he thinks gives Reverse Card its charge. Gerald played that shift with enough restraint that the tension had room to build.

Queer stories do not always have to comfort us

What stayed with me after Double Take was not only the darkness of the material, but the reminder that LGBTQ+ stories should not be limited to stories of acceptance that are easy to clap for.

Yes, we need joy. Yes, we need romance. Yes, we need comedy, drag, family, friendship, and all the colors of survival. But we also need stories that admit that queer people carry anger, shame, grief, desire, resentment, and unfinished pain. The community is not made stronger by pretending those things do not exist.

This matters even more during Pride Month. It is important to put out more LGBT stories, but quantity alone is not enough. We need stories that expand what people think LGBT theater can hold. Double Take may not always be clean in its movement, and it may still benefit from tightening in certain areas, but it understands that awareness can be uncomfortable.

More importantly, it understands that discomfort is not the same thing as exploitation. The pre-show warning already told us what the production seemed to know about itself: these themes should echo, but they should not be glorified.

A promising glimpse of How to Train Your Drag-Mom

After Double Take, we were also shown an in-development showcase of Kho-Lab Productions’ planned 2027 show, How to Train Your Drag-Mom.

I cannot say much about it yet because a lot can still change. That is the nature of developmental work. What is shown now may not be what eventually reaches the full production. But as an early glimpse, it was promising.

What engaged me most was the almost improvised feel of it. There was a looseness that made the material feel alive, as if the room was being invited into the process instead of being shown something already locked and polished. For a story about chosen family, identity, acceptance, and drag culture, that sense of play feels useful. It gives the piece room to discover itself.

I am curious to see what stays, what changes, and what deepens when the show moves closer to its planned full production.

The Double Take: Reverse Card & AL.TER wall outside the venue, with Unsaulicited included among the media partners.

Final thoughts

Double Take: Reverse Card & AL.TER is not an easy watch, and I do not think it is trying to be one.

In AL.TER, CJ Tiongson and Drei Arias helped make grief feel theatrical without making it artificial. In Reverse Card, Inah Evans and Gerald Magallanes gave the afternoon its sharper bite, turning a dangerous encounter into something entertaining, tense, and difficult to dismiss.

There are places where the production can still tighten. But in the performance I witnessed, the twin bill landed where it needed to land. It made pain visible without asking the audience to worship it. It made queer stories messy without apologizing for the mess. And it reminded me that theater does not always have to soothe us to be worth watching.

Sometimes, it needs to let the walls echo.

Related Unsaulicited coverage

• Double Take Brings Reverse Card and AL.TER to Makati in a Twin Bill About Memory, Grief, and Survival
• Double Take: Reverse Card & AL.TER Review by Daniel Dacanay

Frequently asked questions

What is Double Take: Reverse Card & AL.TER?

Double Take is a twin bill featuring two queer-centered one-act plays, Reverse Card and AL.TER, presented by Kho-Lab Productions in collaboration with Artist Playground.

Who performed in the June 20, 2026, 3:00 PM show?

The June 20, 2026, 3:00 PM performance featured CJ Tiongson and Drei Arias in AL.TER, and Inah Evans and Gerald Magallanes in Reverse Card.

Is Double Take triggering?

The production deals with themes that may be triggering or uncomfortable for some audiences, including grief, bullying, manipulation, trauma, and self-harm. The performance I watched included a pre-show message reminding audiences that they may step out if needed.

Where was Double Take staged?

Double Take: Reverse Card & AL.TER was staged at Illumination Studio in Makati.