The Fourth Trimester by Checkpoint Theatre

Following sold-out runs of the critically acclaimed Normal (2015 and 2017), playwright Faith Ng and director Claire Wong return with The Fourth Trimester, a compelling new play that will sweep you into the vivid, messy embrace of parenthood and family life.

The first month is always the roughest.

Exhausted from battling sleepless nights and endless diaper changes, first-time parents Samantha and Aaron find themselves overwhelmed caring for their newborn. Close friends rally around them in support, but picture-perfect couple Lisa and Daniel are beginning to feel the strain of family life on their relationship, while Ann yearns for a space of her own. Next door, newlyweds Sofia and Johan deal with the pressures of starting a family. Faced with the tangle of life and its hurdles, ‘adulting’ has never seemed so complicated.

Incredibly rich, humorous and compassionate, The Fourth Trimester is achingly familiar in its portrayal of family life and all its uncertainties. With sensitive, nuanced direction by Claire Wong and insightful dramaturgy by Huzir Sulaiman, Faith Ng’s latest work casts a refreshing and timely light on parenthood, identity, and what it means to be happy in contemporary Singapore.

Expect the unexpected in this hopeful and heartfelt ode to the places we call home, and the people we choose as family.

(Advisory: Some coarse language and mature themes relating to relationships, parenthood, and caregiving)