G.F.E.
12 - 15 July 2018
Creative Cube, LASALLE College of the Arts
About the Show
A man visits the lorongs of Geylang for the first time with his friend. It isn’t actually his first time, as he’s been there before for the famous food. But, on this particular night, they’re there for the women. His friend tells him about the G.F.E., or ‘Girl Friend Experience’: when a sex worker “will look into your eyes, just like your girlfriend”. On a local online forum, women are reviewed and rated according to ‘face’, ‘service’ and the ‘G.F.E.’ that they provide.
The friend tells the man not to be ‘Mr Emo Unenthusiastic’. But the man is distracted, recalling a succession of women who have been a part of his life. His first love back in junior college. A married woman. A one-night stand. He thinks of the almost unbearable intimacies that he once shared with them. And how he can admit to rage or numbness but not the pain of heartbreak.
Playwright Chong Woon Yong poses an intriguing question in this tender and truthful play: is the man really looking for a G.F.E... or is he trying to recover from one?
Performed in Mandarin, with English surtitles.
IMDA Rating: Restricted 18 (Mature Content & Strong Coarse Language)
Creative Team & Cast
CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM
Written by Choon Woon Yong
Directed by Ric Liu
Set Coordinator Deena Shaqinah
Lighting designer Liu Yong Huay
Sound Designer Jing Ng
Hair Designer/ Stylist Ashley Lim
Make-up Designer The Make Up Room
Production Manager Pebble Tan
Stage Manager Chen Ruiyu
Producer Tony Trickett
CAST
Choon Woon Yong
Reviews
“这两场演出解析了新加坡男子面对的一些隐形压力，不断迫使着他们操演出一种典型的男性气概。野米剧场的这场演出打开一个鲜少受到关注的性别问题。These two performances analyse some of the invisible pressures faced by Singaporean men that force them to project a stereotypical masculinity… These performances by W!LD RICE reveals a gender issue that is rarely highlighted.”
Lianhe Zaobao
“G.F.E. knows how to tell a simple yet striking story about a man realising that all his life, he’s been looking for love in all the wrong places, and highlights the Singaporean male’s fundamental inability or fear of accessing their emotional core as they obscure it under layers of faux masculinity and chutzpah…”
Bakchormeeboy.com
“Chong Woon Yong, who goes solo in his self-written play, is much more fluid when transitioning between characters and scenes… it carries the right balance of head and heart to satisfy audiences that are either there to critique a performance or to be entertained for the evening.”
Popspoken.com
