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SINGAPORE: Mama's wedding's coming and the family are preparing for the big day. Sounds like a happy affair except things aren’t so rosy back home.
Big sister Ruth, who has not spoken to mom in years, is reluctant to go back to Penang for the wedding, while the other two sisters, Emily and Betty, are scheming and planning on how to convince her to return.
Written by one of Malaysia's hottest playwrights Mark Beau de Silva and directed by Singapore's award-winning director Samantha Scott-Blackhall, "Mama's Wedding", a play about second chances in life and love, explores the complexity of family relationships.
Carina Hales who plays Ruth, the eldest of the three daughters, said, "She's got some issues with the family and I think she feels very misunderstood, misinterpreted. Her best intensions are usually not taken very well."
There is a conflict of wills, "I'm trying to do my own thing and she’s trying to get me to do mama's thing... I feel like I've had to bare the brunt of mama’s upbringing," she added.
In a case of art imitating life, Elizabeth Tan who also has two older sisters, plays the youngest of the brood, Betty. Though closest to mom, she feels "left out" and always excluded from her elder sisters' conversations.
"It's a bit awkward so you're finding your way... in that sense, Carina and I, our characters have a slight conflict, kind of a complex relationship," said Tan.
The mother-daughter and sibling issues are something the girls can all relate to. When the scenes mirror reality, the cast often share personal accounts with one another in what they call a "purging experience."
But before you guys brush "Mama's Wedding" off and label it a chick flick, the play which is also about Eurasians, gives you an insight into the identity that is "strange to many people".
"It also covers other issues like what it means to be a Eurasian, having such a variety of races within just one person and that’s very interesting because not many people know the story, background and heritage of a Eurasian person," said Scott-Blackhall.
Just before Primetime Morning wrapped up the interview with the director and cast, presenter Suzanne Jung asked what’s the description of the play on ACTION Theatre’s website "Mama’s Wedding will teach you what to do before kissing a man's chest" all about.
Hales' response to that, "Bring tissue just in case you need to spit!"
Don't say we didnt warn you.
"Mama’s Wedding" premieres worldwide at Singapore’s ACTION Theatre on Thursday, July 3.
- CNA/il
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