Poignant & provocative: For Better or For Worse

PUBLISHED March 4th, 2013 02:13 am | UPDATED July 25th, 2024 03:23 pm

Get set Nomads as Checkpoint Theatre breaks onto the stage with its first production for the year 2013: For Better or For Worse by playwright Faith Ng. The play traces the love-hate marriage of middle-aged couple Gerald and Swen. Set against the backdrop of everyday life in modern Singapore, the play is poignant and provocative at every turn. For Better or For Worse makes you laugh, even as it tears apart notions of romantic love while compelling you to embrace the tedium and wonder, and the joys and pains, of marriage. What is this thing called love? Will ‘I do’ lead to a dead end or a glorious future? What does it take to keep a marriage going? Join Gerald and Swen as they realize they are hopelessly yet passionately bound by their marriage vows: to depend on each other no matter what, till death do they part.

Actors Jean Ng and Julius Foo play the parts of Swen and Gerald respectively who found the play challenging in a number of ways. Julius Foo said, ‘It’s the need to portray the character in different stages of his life. Then there’s the text, which is in Singlish. Singlish has a very flexible structure. For example, a line can be said in several different ways and though the meaning may be similar, but by dropping one or two words, the context may be different!’ Jean Ng added that ‘being natural and believable while being extremely alive, engaging, colorful, unpredictable, funny and moving at the same time’ was also a challenge. The two actors also have to work with invisible characters, props and a mainly invisible set!

For Better or For Worse is a powerful and moving account of the ups and downs of love and marriage, and of staying together through the uncertainties of life.

The play is directed by Claire Wong, who is also the co-founder and Joint Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre. An accomplished actress herself, Claire’s memorable lead roles include her one-women performance in Madame Mao’s Memories, Atomic Jaya and Occupation. As a theatre director, Claire recently directed Huzir Sulaiman’s Occupation in a one-woman performance by Jo Kukathas and co-directed Dream Country: a lost monologue, a dance-theatre production by 35 performers for the Singapore Arts Festival 2012. She directed The Weight Of Silk On Skin, written by Huzir Sulaiman and performed by Ivan Heng for the Man Singapore Theatre Festival 2011.

We got a got a few moments with Claire to find out more about the play:

What attracted you to Faith Ng’s play?

The play is both witty and deeply touching. Swen and Gerald, the middle-aged married couple in the play, are very believably written. By capturing moments of their life together, Faith makes us look at love and commitment in a fresh way. A good play is one that makes you feel and question – this is one such play.

What were the challenges of this play for you, as the director?

The only two actors who play the two main characters, who in turn are their younger selves in one scene and then, in the next scene, they are thirty years older. There are other characters but they are invisible. So, it’s very demanding on the actors. I have to work closely with the actors, make sure they dig deep, to find the layers of meaning in the text, to build both a rich inner life and also an engaging physical vocabulary. I want to fully engage the audience without gimmicks or tricks – but with honest, honed and skillful performances.

Why should people come to see “For Better or For Worse”?

People should come watch this production because it is theatre that will speak to both the heart and the head. The audience will laugh and cry, and will talk and think about the play even after they leave the theatre. The play is about love – something that everyone experiences or yearns for. It is a play that is authentically Singaporean, and will speak to audiences in a personal and meaningful way.

Does the play reflect what goes in the lives of Singaporeans? Is it a true “slice of life”?

Yes, Faith Ng writes distinctively Singaporean plays. She really captures the soul in the everyday ordinariness of Singaporeans. She writes Singlish dialogue that is rich, colourful, and nuanced. Here, she has created a Singaporean married couple we recognize, who are living a life that we relate to and dealing with issues we also struggle with.

What is the message that you would like the audience to take home after seeing the play?

I hope the audience will go home and hug their spouse or partner, and say ‘I love you’! Love, commitment and relationships are complicated, unpredictable and can be hard. But it is what you make of it and its complexities are what also make it wonderful and beautiful.

So, irrespective of whether you are single, married or on the brink of taking the plunge into married life, go and watch For Better or For Worse for an honest, humorous and touching look at married life.

For Better or For Worse runs on Wed 20 Mar – Sun 24 Mar 2013, 8pm daily plus 3pm on Sat & Sun at the Drama Centre Black Box, National Library Level 5. Ticket Prices are $35 (excludes SISTIC booking fee) available here.

Post-show talks with the director and cast will be held after the matinee shows on Sat & Sun

For more information, please visit Checkpoint Theatre’s website here.