My Funny Valentine

IN FRANCE, JOEL POMMERAT IS one of the country's most popular theatre writer-directors. He's garnered dozens of French awards and nominations. And his plays typically sell out their runs. But few in Asia may have heard of him. None of his scripts have been translated and published in English. And not many of his productions have travelled to this part of the world.

The Reunification Of The Two Koreas is one of his first works to be translated into English. And Singapore audiences will be the first to see it in a TheatreWorks production in November, before it travels to France.

Staged to acclaim in 2013, Pommerat's play is not nearly as political as the title suggests. For one thing, it's not about Korea at all - but love. For another, it's not always about "reunifications" but "separations". And it doesn't tell just one story, but a patchwork of stories about people being in and out of love - romantic love, familial love, platonic love, and all its other variations.