INTERVIEW: Amanda Chong, ‘Psychobitch’

Ahead of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, we’re chatting with a range of creatives who will be heading to the city over August to find out more about their shows. Today we’re chatting with Amanda Chong about Psychobitch.

Can you tell us a bit about you and your career so far?

Like most writers, I was obsessed with writing short stories and poems in school. My teacher submitted a story I wrote to the Commonwealth Essay Competition, and I ended up winning the first prize as a fifteen year old. I also won the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Competition and got to spend a week in Shropshire being mentored by UK poets George Szirtes and Colette Bryce. Those experiences in my teens were formative enough to give me the audacity to want to be a writer.

I ended up studying law in Cambridge which drained the creativity from my brain. I only picked up poetry again upon returning to Singapore and getting stuck in to the literary scene here. I published a poetry book “Professions” in 2016 which was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize and never dreamt of writing a play until I was serendipitously commissioned out of the blue to write a play for Esplanade Theatres in Singapore by a persistent and plucky producer.

What is your show about?

Psychobitch is a one woman show that tells the story of Anya Samuel, an overachieving journalist who has perpetual levels of excellence and nil levels of chill. Her tech CEO fiance asks her to explain the four times she’s cried in public in the course of their relationship to prove that she’s not an “emotional person”. Ever the go-getter, Anya brings her full suite of professional skills to this task and creates the slickest slide deck, complete with infographics of her menstrual cycle. The audience meets Anya at her fiancé’s tech bro office, where she is preparing to give the presentation of her life. They will follow Anya on a journey unpacking the subtle shades of toxic relationships and the concessions we make in our search for love. It is a dark comedy told with a slide deck on steroids. Be prepared to laugh and then cry.

What was the inspiration for Psychobitch and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?

I identify very much as a Psychobitch and so do all my high-capacity hot mess women friends. But more than that, I wanted to deconstruct the trope of a “Psychobitch” which is a term many women are labeled when they are emotional. I hope the play goes some way into excavating the deep well of gendered expectations and stereotypes around women’s emotionalism.

 I knew I wanted to write a one woman show for Sindhura Kalidas who is one of my best friends from drama club in secondary school. She’s fabulously talented and equally adept in comedy and drama. We both had weathered rather traumatic break ups together which culminated in a soul-searching sisters trip to Vietnam, and I thought it would be cathartic for us to create art from all that heartbreak.

 I wrote Psychobitch under veteran Singaporean playwright Haresh Sharma’s mentorship as part of The Necessary Stage’s Playwrights Cove programme. He has experience writing monodramas for specific actors, so he gave me fantastic guidance. It was also great that since Sindhu and I are friends, I got to send her bits to read along the way to make sure nothing got too crazy for a single performer.

Apart from seeing Psychobitch, what’s your top tip for anybody heading to Edinburgh this summer?

I have never been to the Fringe before, or even set foot in Edinburgh! But our producer Shien tells me to just take it all in! It is so exciting and eye-opening as an artist, and a bucket list thing for so many of us. One top tip I've heard is to work hard at promoting and flyering the show - we want as many people (and psychobitches) to come see the show as possible! Personally, I’m looking forward to watching the other fantastic shows by other artists. I hope that I might get some inspiration for my next play along the way. 

Why should people book Psychobitch?

I hope that the story of Anya Samuel, a woman from the Tamil Christian minority in Singapore, will resonate as universal a universal message about the deeply human craving to be fully known and fully loved

When and where can people see the show?

7:45 pm at Tech Cube Zero in Summerhall from 1-26 August (except 12 and 19 August)

Follow us at @psychobitchplay, @wildricesg and @asenseoffalling to catch our journey, and for all the behind-the-scenes content!