AFFECTIONS by The Assembly Point

“Affections”

Reviewer: Liana Gurung
Performance: 6 December 2019

Inspired by Chuck Mee’s Big Love and Limonade Tous les Jours, The Assembly Point’s debut show Affections is an exploration of the many facets of love. Told through three interwoven narratives, the show delves deeper into the common tropes that accompany romance. As the show’s synopsis puts it:

Another love song tops the charts.

Another fling in a foreign land.

Another bout of cold feet.

To this end, the script and characters strike a balance between the comedic triviality and poignancy of love. The initial tone of the production weighs more heavily on the former. The play opens explosively, with pop star “V” (Tia Guttensohn) strutting down a runway-cum-stage, lip-syncing passionately to a medley of love songs. It is clear that the play’s foremost intention is to delight its audience, cemented when Yaya (Fatin Syahirah) and Andrew (Jeramy Lim) rush into the room, trailing clothes.

A sparse and modest production lavish only in the smorgasbord of balloons at the room’s head, it is still clearly a labour of love, well-rehearsed and carefully produced. Cues are executed perfectly and in very narrow windows of time, as actors emerged from different doors in impressive costume changes with nary a hair out of place.

Certain narratives are more compelling than others. With V’s monologues, and the force of her own bubbly, idealistic character, the audience becomes invested; with the “cold feet” narrative, we become reminded of our own hesitations and anxiety when it comes to the uncertainty of loving and being loved back. The latter is bolstered also by a pair of riotous bridesmaids who are a perfect and comedic chorus to the waxing bride, played by Jelaine Ng.

However, the “fling in Bali” storyline seems slightly contrived. Tokenistic attributions and the temptation to saturate the characters with other symbolism – such as the implication of class on gender roles or the divide between lovers from “modern” versus “provincial” backgrounds – muddy an otherwise elegant argument about the temporal nature of love.

But even with the core threads of the narratives, it is the play’s explorations of other non-romantic strands of love, or “affection”, that are more compelling to me. The audience enjoyed particularly the loud, frank sisterhood shared by bride and bridesmaids, speaking openly of exes and bad choices. Another timely and more cerebral “affection” explored is the damaging aspects of fan culture – when affection turns to obsession – that V suffers as a result of her meteoric popularity. Love is, at every turn, in every form, a double-edged sword that brings as much pain as joy.

With an organisational ethos of anchoring their theatre practice on the power of collaboration, the actors indeed shine brightest when they could play off each other. Hinging on the cast’s effervescent energy, the play is a champagne fizz delight, and the fluidity of the actors within make it a joy to watch.