Happy
Endings was many things, each with varying degrees of success.
On one level, Happy Endings was a heartfelt exploration of
friendship, love and self-awakening, drawing from Johann S Lee's
Peculiar Chris (Singapore's first gay novel). An author, Joe (Ben
Xiao), struggles to write a story about a desirable school swimmer,
Chris, during his junior college days. In the story, Chris (Xiao) falls
for a male foreign student (Pierre Goh) even though he is already "dating"
a girl (Genevieve Lim). Unfortunately for Chris, the male object of
his fancy has no intention of making their socially inconvenient affair
public. Hurt but unable to voice his feelings to his "girlfriend",
Chris drives her away without explanation, hurting her as well. Chris'
friend Nicholas (Galvin Yeo), a flaming queen, puts aside the pain of
his unrequited love and comforts Chris.
Refreshingly, Happy Endings chose to focus on the bittersweet
innocence of first love, rather than to wallow in the angst of being
young, marginalised and confused. Friendship, romance and humour -
qualities transcending issues of sexual orientation - reigned
over any gloomy thoughts. Even when Chris' later boyfriend died
of AIDS, the episode was swiftly dealt with, and its tone more matter-of-fact
than anything else. The cast managed this competently. While their relative
inexperience was evident, what was lost in terms of emotional range
was made up for in a youthful energy that captured the carefree spirit
of those growing-up years.
Just as the first half of Happy Endings was all lightness
and air, the second half could not have been more different. There,
the "gay issues" lost their whimsy and took on a political
edge, reaching the climax of a biting commentary on attitudes in the
gay community. A grown up Chris (Robin Goh) returns from overseas to
find that his first "girlfriend" Syl (Karen Tan) has become
a committed gay activist. His first "boyfriend" Ken (Timothy
Nga) has "cured" himself of homosexuality and is delivering
lectures on how to convert oneself from gay to straight. Nicholas (Koey
Foo) has abandoned his feminine mannerisms to become a jock who only
cares about sex. Karen Tan, who is as usual engaging and brilliant,
plays a feisty Syl who finally lashes out at Nicholas for being apathetic
to her activism. Her ringing cry "the personal is the political"
places Happy Endings firmly in its social context, reminding
us that there is a need for awareness and action.
The sharp contrast between idealism in the first half and worldiness
in the second half was less jarring than could be expected, mainly because
Happy Endings carefully eschewed bitterness and aimless cynicism
throughout. At the back of each scene was some hope for the more joyful
emotion evoked by the play's title.
Nevertheless, as the play's focus "zoomed out" into
a more macro societal view in the second half, the characters suffered
somewhat from being shunted neatly into pigeonholes, losing their multi-dimensionality
as they embodied various stereotypes in the gay community.
But perhaps it was because of this unfussy handling that Happy
Endings pulled off its greatest coup, to delineate with compassion
and objectivity a large slice of the gay community. In Happy Endings,
this was a world teeming with humanity - from the fag hag to the
butch fag to the old man who haunts the bar every Saturday night. Upon
closer scrutiny, this was a world not all that different from the straight
world. Lim Kay Siu gave his character Alec, a lonely and slightly creepy
old chap, a delicate pathos and dignity. A nice touch was his bittersweet
rendition of an old song You'll Never Know, a simple
tune that speaks of loneliness. The addition of a young and wide-eyed
Kuang Ming (Hansel Tan) easily brightened the mood by providing Chris
with a love interest to walk into the sunset with.
It was a little regrettable that the energetic pacing of the second
half caused a hurried resolution of loose ends. But Happy Endings
had a lot of ground to cover, and it did so while juggling serious themes
and a sense of humour. Not too precious to jibe at gay plays in which
someone's boyfriend invariably dies of AIDS, this ambitious conclusion
to the Asian
Boys
trilogy was overall a lovely piece of work, at once fairytale and true
to life.
This last installment in Alfian Sa'at's Asian Boys trilogy
works best as a representation and critique of the gay community. W!ld
Rice has tended towards plays as public fora, to engage their audience
and stimulate discussion. In this respect, the enduring relevance of
Happy Endings is self-evident.
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"This ambitious conclusion to the Asian Boys trilogy was
overall a lovely piece of work, at once fairytale and true to life"
Credits
Cast: Ben Xiao, Robin Goh, Genevieve Lim, Pierre Goh,
Galvin Yeo, Lim Kay Siu, Hansel Tan, Karen Tan, Koey Foo, Timothy Nga
and the company
Creative Team: Alfian Sa’at, Ivan Heng, Yvonne
Yuen, Mac Chan, Moe Kasim, Christina Sargeant, Ashley Lim and M.A.C.
Production Team: Tony Trickett, BB Koh, Greg Swyny,
Teo Kuang Han, Juraidah Rahman, Alycia Finley, Ryan Lim, Jasmine Teo,
Kala Raman, Vivianti Zasman, Caleb Lee and Nurhadiyah Bte Mahadi
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