Preview: The Almighty Sometimes by Singapore Repertory Theatre

Following the blockbuster restaging of The LKY Musical (in association with Aiwei), Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) wraps up the year with an intimate and exceptionally beautiful play about love, life and letting go, no matter what the consequences are, with Kendall Feaver’s multi-award-winning play The Almighty Sometimes.

The Almighty Sometimes is a profound and compelling study of a young woman trying to discover where her illness ends and her identity begins, and the effects years of medication can have on the brain. Says Feaver: “I wrote the first draft of this play back in 2012, at a time when media headlines were preoccupied with a so-called medication ‘epidemic’. My generation, Gen Y, had the dubious honour of being the most medicated in history, and young people who had been diagnosed with a mood and/or behavioural disorder in childhood or adolescence had now come of age. There was little to no research, however, on the long-term effects of psychotropic medications, or any suggestion of how many of these young people were continuing their treatment into adulthood, and I wanted to write a play from the middle of this developing fault line.”

The play follows Anna, who has been on medication for so long she can’t remember who she is without it. All she knows is that once, as a little girl, she was a prodigious writing talent, in possession of a thrilling imagination. Now twenty-one, Anna wants to rediscover the talent and passions she believes were interrupted. She wants to know what life would be like without pills and prescriptions, but as Anna tries to find out who she really is, her mother, remains determined to protect her – but Anna’s treatment is no longer her decision.

Praised for being an unflinching, exhilarating ride, filled with humour, pain and a little bit of magic, SRT’s staging will be directed by Daniel Jenkins, and stars Karen Tan, Shona Benson, Arielle Jasmine, and Salif Hardie. Says director Daniel Jenkins: “When I first read the script, several things struck me about this extraordinary play. The brilliant writing, the way writer Kendall Feaver, has crafted such wonderfully natural dialogue that is honest, truthful and real; that allows the actors to really inhabit the characters and that feels so like everyday speech but filled with meaning, passion, humour and heart.

“It is a play that made me angry; it made me cry; it made me laugh out loud. It made me appreciate the love I have for my family. To tell my parents that I love them and to kiss my children and hold them tight. I am sure audiences will be moved by this exceptionally beautiful play about love, life and letting go, no matter what the consequences may be.”

The Almighty Sometimes plays from 8th November 2022 at KC Arts Centre. Tickets available here