Dungeons and Dragons becomes marriage counselling homebrew.

The joy of roleplaying games (RPGs) has always been in its escapism, to allow its players to be whoever they want to be, slaying dragons and fighting evil wizards. And even when they fail, there’s always a second chance to try again, and eventually emerge the celebrated hero. In many ways, it’s also akin to theatre, where players fully immerse themselves in the fantasy, putting on voices and believing in the make-believe world the dungeon master has conjured. And thus, it makes perfect sense to weave it into an actual theatre production.

Make no mistake however, that as much as it’s all in one’s imagination, there are still very real emotions that fly during each campaign, something that theatremaker Jo Tan knows all too well. A fan of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) herself, the classic tabletop RPG has been woven into her show Session Zero, where it is no longer just fun and games, but used as a medium for a couple to work through their marital issues.

Produced by Checkpoint Theatre and directed by Huzir Sulaiman, Session Zero‘s title refers to a dedicated session run before the actual campaign begins to go over ground rules and establish expectations, and for players to understand each others boundaries and figure out how best to communicate with each other. This seems rather odd for the central couple, who’ve been together since their university days and would likely know everything about each other. But it is precisely such an interaction that allows them to reflect on and realise all the tiny flaws in their relationship yet to be mended.

So much of Session Zero is true to the D&D form – dependent on the imagination, even down to the set. All they have is one table, two chairs – each roll of the D20 dice is represented by the same sound of plastic on wood, and there are no projections, no scenery, only vertical lines of light that change colour in each scene, at times allowing us to imagine a heady bar, or casual evening at the university dorms. White lines twist across the floor, marking the couple’s now tangled relationship, and we are seated and ready to be immersed.

Session Zero, specifically, starts off in the living room of ‘Smokey’ (Brendon Fernandez) and ‘Speedy’ (Jo Tan). Smokey is the certified geek and devotee to D&D since his childhood, the theatre-trained dungeon master who has planned an entire campaign, a word wizard who knows how to craft an entire realm with his voice and vivid descriptions, and exactly how to bring the story to its tensest moments and emotional climaxes. Speedy, on the other hand, is the total opposite, a former jock and good girl who focused on climbing the law career ladder after graduating from NUS, and refuses to have anything to do with D&D. At least, until now.

Right from the beginning, there is something clearly wrong with the couple’s relationship, as what should be a light-hearted, casual session of character-building and exploration quickly turns hostile. In a world that hinges so much on the cardinal improv rule of ‘yes and’, Speedy continually rejects the established canon, from having her low-charisma fighter character attempt to flirt with everyone she sees (regardless of gender), or calling into question everything from Smokey’s accents to finding problems with how dark elves are literally dark-skinned and often considered ‘evil’. Smokey becomes exasperated with her behaviour, and the more she tries to control the narrative, he doubles down on trying to kill her off as ‘punishment’.

Each of these high-tension interactions is punctuated by a flashback, where either Smokey or Speedy lapse into their memories and backstories, recalling Smokey’s time in AV club or performing a play at The Substation, or how the two of them first meet in a stairwell at the NUS dorms, or how uncomfortable it was for Smokey the first time he meets Speedy’s protective, conservative father. But more than that, we learn how individually, each of them has kept secrets from each other and lived a life the other will never fully understand, leading us to understand the rift between the two and the occasional inability to communicate with each other.

Between the two of them, Smokey is painted as the far more sympathetic character, coming from a broken home, and as a man of mixed ethnicity and visibly a minority, has struggled to prove himself against stereotype (though oddly, in terms of casting, Brendon Fernandez is very much Chinese-passing). Speedy on the other hand could not be more typical and privileged, growing up in a Chinese, Christian household, and whose father owns a small business. Therein perhaps lies the problem, where the two feel like fundamentally different people, worlds apart and not quite meant to be a couple.

Opposites attract, but as much as they are fascinated by each other because of their differences or spontaneity, there remains an unspoken gulf between them that prevents them from becoming as close as they want to be. Whether it’s Smokey’s inability to understand Speedy’s hangups about ‘pretty privilege’, or Speedy’s own insecurities leading her to make mistakes out of her own selfish needs, the two never quite feel like a married couple, something that is felt even between Jo and Brendon’s onstage chemistry. As such, it becomes difficult to root for them to mend the marriage, when they in fact seem better off as best friends.

That is a conflict that haunts Session Zero, a pity as for the rest of the play, playwright Jo has proven herself to be skilled at nailing comic timing, where she knows how to punctuate and subvert a scene with an unexpected line to bring out the laughs in an otherwise serious play. Both actors do fantastic accent work each time they play other figures from their past – a suave boss, a fellow student actor, an ageing mother or abusive father, and you can imagine them transforming into each of these characters with their voice and physicality. Brendon does especially good work as dungeon master, capturing exactly the right accent for each of his fantasy characters and shifting between them smoothly and quickly, also testament to Jo’s writing that makes their dialogue and description so evocative you can picture the campaign unfolding before your eyes.

For a play whose entire premise is about D&D, Jo showcases plenty of control and never lets her love for the game overpower the main purpose of unpacking the couple’s relationship dynamic. It’s a fascinating source of both humour and drama as Speedy keeps pushing back against Smokey’s narrative, desperate to find hope amidst the hopeless, refusing to accept things as they are as it finds loophole after loophole. As much as one may not necessarily believe in the relationship, Speedy’s desperation and effort towards saving what she can is a feat in itself, at times displaying genuine regret for her mistake (even if she hasn’t done quite enough to redeem herself).

Even with an ambiguous ending, Jo’s endgame has always been hope, using nostalgia for the good old days and the knowledge that love persists against all odds to drive Session Zero to its resolution. Seeing the tears in audience members’ eyes, it is clear that Session Zero has a place in the Singapore theatre canon. As flawed as the characters might be, a grain of truth comes out in the performances from Jo and Brendon, and has touched the ordinary Singaporean in some way.

These audience members, many of whom are D&D players themselves, see a bit of themselves onstage, marking the power of theatre in allowing us to believe in the existence of genuine love amidst the swordplay and magic, and for a moment, escape into the fantasy of a relationship that persists even when on the brink of death. And that perhaps, is enough to go back to square one, and begin the campaign anew.

Session Zero runs from 19th to 29th October 2023 at the Drama Centre Black Box. Tickets available here

Production Credits:

Director and Dramaturg: Huzir Sulaiman Playwright: Jo Tan Cast: Jo Tan, Brendon Fernandez Set and Lighting Co-Designer: Petrina Dawn Tan (Doodle Productions) Lighting Co-Designer: Tai Zi Feng (Doodle Productions) Sound Designer: Shah Tahir