Samsui Women: One Brick at a Time

Presented by The Finger Players in collaboration with Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay in 2015, this performance was part of the Feed Your Imagination (F.Y.I) – a series created for students.

Excerpts from this performance are now featured in Esplanade’s Offstage Series – When Adversity Forges Strength, a self-guided lesson on resilience and national-building with accompanying videos, quizzes and more. Recommended for primary school students. Click button on the right to learn more!

A destructive fire razes through the squatter settlement of Bukit Ho Swee, leaving thousands of families homeless. To help the victims of the fire, Swee Leng, a Samsui woman, rises to the occasion and volunteers her time in the rebuilding efforts of Bukit Ho Swee. Through sheer hard work and perseverance, she earns the respect of her peers and becomes a foreman at a construction site, leading a team of workers.

Set in 1960s Singapore, this life-sized puppetry performance is based on the lives of the Samsui women of Singapore. Part fact and part fiction, this is a moving story about dedication, duty and honour.

Samsui Women: One Brick at a Time gave students a peek into Singapore history to help them better understand and appreciate the sacrifices of the pioneer generation as well as to reflect on the values that the dedicated Samsui women of yesteryears live by.

Learning Objectives

This programme sought to help students to:

• recognise the Samsui women of Singapore as heroes in our local history
• appreciate the qualities of resilience, dedication and sense of duty towards our country
• recognise the ways in which the pioneer generation has contributed to the nation
• develop an appreciation for puppetry as a storytelling tool

Recommended For

• Primary School Students