A Note from Happy, 14 May
14.05.26
Hello Grif-friend,
My name is Happy Feraren, writer of SAVIOR. Our production team has started bump-in (moving everything from our cozy rehearsal space into the theatre) and it’s just two more days until our first preview (this Saturday!). I can’t wait to see it all come together and finally get it out of my head and into the space that is the Downstairs Theatre, Belvoir.
Comedy is about recognising truth. Seeing its patterns and spotting them in different scenarios. It is how I ended up with a play at the intersection of online dating and a global humanitarian crisis. Inspired by my time working in the NGO sector, when big tech was interested in “doing good” but most importantly, when new dating apps promised you’d find love with a single swipe right.
The writing process got me revisiting memories of suited white men sipping espressos at fancy rooftop cafes in Manila while talking about ending poverty. I remembered flying to The Hague for a workshop where Global North tech experts lectured us on how spreadsheets stop corruption (spoiler alert: they don’t). And of course, the origin story of the play, discovering a flood of foreign aid workers on Tinder in the middle of one of the most devastating disasters in the Philippines.
I wrote SAVIOR to offer a fresh perspective often absent in the canon of satires. It’s a story told from the point of view of those who feel the real-world consequences of decisions made by people who look like they belong in a workplace comedy. The goal was to keep the play unapologetically honest and funny while exposing the other side of aid.
The last few months were all about refining and calibrating to gain that precision a satire needs to cut through stereotypical tropes and preachy storylines. I loved being in the room with the cast and creative team to detach from the work and see it be given new life, new jokes and new character dimensions by everyone else. I have our director Kenneth Moraleda to thank for keeping us all committed to the unravelling of truth in every gag and beat of each scene.
I hope to catch you at the show so we can all laugh uncomfortably, together.
See you there!
Happy
Happy Feraren
Playwright, SAVIOR
