Politics and convictions clash in one couple’s struggle over faith in church and marriage.

Love is a fickle thing. While a person may initially seem like ‘the one’, as years go by, both parties will almost always undergo changes in personality and beliefs, as they continue to grow with each new life experience. How then can the sanctity of marriage be upheld when both you and the person you thought you loved have changed irrevocably?

Written by Lucas Ho and co-directed by Huzir Sulaiman and Chen Yingxuan, Checkpoint Theatre’s Tender Submission explores that through the eyes of married couple Catherine and David, as they duke out their differences while awaiting the results of an important vote in church. Played by real life couple Neo Swee Lin and Lim Kay Siu, Catherine and David’s marriage comes under trial, as they spend the time re-examining the life they’ve built together for the last 30 years, and questioning the very basis of their relationship.

Lucas Ho’s writing is challenging, and does not hesitate to use language and dialogue that feels directly lifted from conversations overheard at church. These are difficult and daring topics, ranging from displeasure with the hierarchal, sexist system, to the hypocrisy of the congregation, such as complaining about lacking a community engagement ministry, only for no one to step forth to lead it.

The longer these go on, the more they begin to become intertwined with Catherine and David’s own personal gripes with each other. We see this right from the beginning, where there are differences even between their preferences for electricity use, as Catherine turns all the lights to the maximum brightness and switches on the air-con, before David enters and adjusts the lights until he can find the perfect middle ground, to Catherine’s annoyance as she snaps at him to stop playing with the lights.

It soon becomes clear that these are two people that have recognised how far apart their personalities and philosophies have drifted since first meeting, and in wanting to hold on to that 30-year relationship, still continue to insist that their own way is superior, as they vie for dominance and standing their ground. From revealing the existence a private, all-male group chat that David and his cell share sensitive information with, to arguing over how each of them should proselytise, and even accusations of being bad parents, it feels as if Catherine and David no longer recognise the person they once fell in love with anymore, akin to familiar strangers who happen to share a bed.

This is made all the more tragic due to the realism in the way Catherine and David interact with each other. With Swee Lin and Kay Siu, Catherine and David aren’t simply taking potshots at each other, but drawing from years of actual time spent with each other, possibly dredging up energy from past resentment, to imbue the entire performance with actual emotion and pain. There is complexity on both ends, where Catherine is constantly on edge trying to establish herself after feeling constantly overlooked, while David simply wants to take it easy and go with the flow, overlooking Catherine’s struggles. When Catherine panics over new information David reveals, the horror is clear on her face as she rushes towards the door, while David’s frustration at her misunderstanding him is almost visceral. We understand where each one comes from, and can imagine their history without them needing to spell it out for us.

For both actors, this is an emotionally draining performance, not only to maintain the tension for the entirety of the play, but also for them as a real-life couple intentionally hurting each other through their words, no matter no fictional. This is further complicated by how they have become virtually inseparable, and still care for each other, like David knowing exactly how to calm Catherine down and help her when she experiences gastric pains, or even finding inexplicably parallel religious experiences. There is so much pain in watching this realisation dawn on both of them, that this person they love and dedicated so much of their life to may well be someone they no longer match with.

With its deeply personal subject matter, Tender Submission is an intimate chamber piece that spends the entirety of its time in a single location – the soundproof cry room in the basement of Catherine and David’s church. As a space intended for parents to stow their crying infants so as not to disrupt Mass, Petrina Dawn Tan’s set resembles a kindergarten classroom, with plenty of colourful toys strewn around, a modular alphabet foam playmat, and little personal touches, including signs reminding people to take off their shoes, or a whiteboard listing announcements. Along with a curtained changing area for babies, this cry room feels like a real, practical space you could find in an actual church.

This location is also especially important, not only to lighten the atmosphere with its bright colours, but also as a space that evokes plenty of memories for the couple, the perfect battleground for them as they debate and argue without fear of being overheard, reminiscing over their daughter’s childhood or their own younger days in church. As the play goes on, and the couple unpack more and more of their marriage, they also clean up the mess someone else has left behind, an effective symbolic parallel to how their relationship is healing via such extended, frank conversation.

Tender Submission‘s title references both the literal ‘tender submission’ that is being put to vote by the church, while also embodying a more poetic interpretation of submitting to one’s beliefs. Through the constant push and pull over both the religious and personal gripes, Tender Submission evolves from a lovers’ tiff into a negotiation of power dynamics, both Catherine and David trying to figure out if they should give in to the other or stand their ground while maintaining civility and love. By its end, it no longer matters who is right or wrong, but more of setting aside their own ego, and find a solution to resolve their differences. Even miracles need effort to manifest, and it is this work towards compromise that allows a person to carry on in faith and love.

Photo Credit: Joel Lim (Calibre Pictures)

Tender Submission runs from 17th to 27th August 2023. Tickets are sold out.

Checkpoint Theatre’s next play, Session Zero, runs from 19th to 29th October 2023, with tickets and more information available here

Production Credits:

Co-Director and Dramatrug: Huzir Sulaiman, Co-Director: Chen YIngxuan Playwright: Lucas Ho Cast: Neo Swee Lin, Lim Kay Siu Set and Lighting Co-Designer: Petrina Dawn Tan (Doodle Productions) Lighting Co-Designer: Tai Zi Feng (Doodle Productions) Sound Designer: Shah Tahir