This year’s National Play Festival playwrights answer Five Questions about playwriting craft and careers

Faith Ng is a Singaporean playwright and an Associate Artist with Checkpoint Theatre. We are thrilled to have Faith and Checkpoint Theatre‘s Joint Artistic Directors Claire Wong and Huzir Sulaiman join for this year’s National Play Festival, and Faith’s play, FOR BETTER OR WORSE, will be part of our Singapore focus on Saturday 14th, (+65) Singapore Calling. Faith talked to us about the work and about the playwriting scene in Singapore.

How did the idea for FOR BETTER OR WORSE come about, and how was it developed to the point where it received its first production?

The idea for the play first came about during a lunch with Huzir and Claire. I was telling them about my parents and making fun of them affectionately, and Huzir turned to me very seriously and said, “You need to write this.” That got me thinking about how I could use a simple story about a couple– two people on stage– to explore bigger issues specific to Singapore and to Singaporeans like the economy, housing, jobs, government policies and ageing that impacts our lives and our relationships with each other. I wrote the first seven pages and sent it to him, and from there, we started working on the play through a series of readings and feedback sessions with the company.

It’s not exactly a romantic vision of long term marriage. What is it about this couple that keeps them together, and how do you feel about their relationship?

I think what keeps this couple together is a shared sense of history and accumulated over the years is a heavy chest of gestures, thoughts, and memories– the little things really– that they harbour bitterness and resentment over, as well as cherish and find joy and hope in.

I think it is hard learning to to live with someone and trying to start and support a family together. Often, time, personal and financial circumstances, differing expectations and personalities create a domino effect that affects a couple and can really test them.

There’s a real sense of financial stress running through the play – the characters are all pre-occupied with money worries, and gambling seems to be everyone’s way out. How much does this reflect life in Singapore?

Money is a very vital and practical concern in Singapore. It’s a very expensive country to live in. Money is also used as a huge indicator of how successful you are as a person. Many Singaporeans believe in the importance of having the 5 ‘C’s– Cash, Condominium, Credit Card, Car and a Country Club membership. Because of this, it is a favourite pastime of Singaporeans to buy lottery tickets and bet on football matches. We are hooked onto these habits because we are putting our money on a burning hope and an aching wish for a better and happier life that is beyond our reach. I think it also expresses the emptiness we often feel and the desire to escape the humdrum of the rat race.

So there is a thrilling sense of anticipation we feel when we gamble, because of all the possibilities that can be offered in an instant should we be so lucky as to strike the jackpot– such ‘success stories’ are told to us every day, of an ordinary layman who is suddenly offered the world when he wins it big. I wanted to show those moments and the thought processes one has when one is waiting for the outcome of a bet.

Although the play is in English, the characters move in an out of other languages in the piece. Can you tell us more about your use of language and the Singaporean context?

I think the use of different languages in the play can help to speak of the generational gap in Singapore. The older generation still speaks in dialects (in the play, Gerald converses with his mother in Teochew), but as Singapore as a nation has geared itself over the years towards flourishing in the global market, English has inevitably become the lingua franca, and so subsequent generations have begun to speak in English as well as Singlish, which is like a Singapore version of English, with many other languages and dialects mixed into it.

I also wanted to show the particular nuances of Singlish, which is a language most natural and true to us. We use it in our everyday life, be it to show warmth and endearment, to curse and swear at each other, or to communicate as well as conceal our innermost feelings. So when we switch our language registers, it reveals the kind of relationships we have with those around us and how much we identify with the other.

Can you tell us something about the theatre playwriting scene in Singapore?

I think the scene is definitely evolving. More theatre companies are taking interest in developing new playwrights and there are now increasing possibilities to publish, stage and workshop new writing. There are also more funding opportunities and young playwrights and new writing have been getting more publicity in the media and support from the industry. However, I feel that new writers like myself may still be overwhelmed by the difficulties of working in the scene as freelancers. Often there is no clear sense of how our work should be protected, valued or acknowledged. But I’m learning and growing every day as a theatre maker and I think it’s an exciting time to be in the scene right now.

This year’s National Play Festival main plays are all written by women – as a female playwright how much has gender played a role in your career and in light of this, what advice would you give to a female playwright starting out now?

I think that being a woman definitely gives me more credibility when it comes to representing female voices in Singapore and I naturally want to write about women and what women go through. Growing up, I always yearned to see female experiences represented more and with greater authenticity in the media, and as a playwright, I have often felt the desire to bridge that gap.

The advice I would give to a female playwright starting out now would be: Write the plays that you want to see on stage. Write the plays that only you can write.

Faith Ng’s For Better Or Worse will be part of our Singapore focus on Saturday 14th, (+65) Singapore Calling, with the support of the Singapore International Foundation.

For Better Or For Worse

by Faith Ng

Director: Claire Wong

Cast: Jean Ng and Julius Foo

When:

Saturday 14 June, 8.30pm

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