Normal (2017)
Ashley and Daphne are Secondary 5 Normal Academic students struggling to cope with the pressure to perform. When idealistic teacher Sarah Hew joins the school, Ashley and Daphne find the courage to face their hidden fears, hurts and dreams. The education system tries to build people up – but what happens when it breaks people down? Sharply written and profoundly affecting, Normal explores the world of students who fail to fit the mould.
Normal premiered in 2015 to a sold-out run with audience members and critics alike eagerly awaiting its return. This encore staging opened Checkpoint Theatre’s 15th anniversary season and brought this contemporary classic to a wider audience.
Creative Team
- Playwright
Faith Ng
- Director
Claire Wong
- Cast
Julie Wee
Claire Chung
Audrey Teong
Amanda Tee
Chio Su-Ping
Lim Shi-An
Fanny Kee
Cerys Ong- Ensemble
Cerys Ong
Chery Yang
Danielle Cutiongco
Faith Sim
Hana Nadira
Hazell Restan
Lala Gwen Thomas
Leianne Tan
Lim Meng Jiat
Yo Chen- Set Designer
Eucien Chen
- Lighting Designer
Lim Woan Wen
- Sound Designer
Shah Tahir
- Costume Designer
Laichan
- Assistant Director
Chen Yingxuan
- Production Stage Manager
Izz Sumono
- Producers
Claire Wong
Huzir Sulaiman
Reviews
- Press
One needn't have... been in the normal stream to feel the emotional truth of the dialogue because it stems from the lived experience of feeling invisible; Faith's writing speaks compassionately of this human need to feel seen, recognised, accepted as a unique individual, and the frustration against societal systems which undermine this right.
Arts Equator, SG
Chung shines as Ashley, the school's enfant terrible, whose unruly swagger masks a brittle soul. Teong complements her as slow, sweet Daphne [ ... ] But the real revelation is Lim Shi-An's porcelain-faced prefect Marianne, [whose] monologue... finally breaks the heart.
The Straits Times Life!, SG
[Normal] keeps it real, without offering glossy solutions to soothe the troubled souls of the audience members. At the end of the day, it is not textbook answers that we seek, but rather, the raw questioning of what works and what doesn't.
The Everyday People, SG