SINGAPORE — In For Better Or For Worse, the word “love” is never explicitly mentioned. Instead, it’s the slightest of presence, a faint undercurrent that runs throughout playwright Faith Ng’s honest, often funny, portrait of a not-so-perfect marriage that somehow endures.

Here in Checkpoint Theatre’s latest, we meet Gerald (Julius Foo) and Swen (Jean Ng), a middle-aged couple whose only daughter, who has long flown the coop, has just announced her engagement over dinner. Later that night, Gerald also has news of his own: He’s been retrenched, which prompts housewife Swen to give tuition.

But the play isn’t so much driven by these potentially dramatic instances as it is by the entire dynamic of being husband and wife.

While we discover, some through flashbacks, some tragic or questionable moments that might have put their union to the test (a miscarriage, a taste for gambling, hints of womanising), we’ve arrived at a point in their marriage where nothing seems to be at stake. Here is a couple who, despite their constant bickering, have already managed to stay together this far in spite of everything.

Yet we are compelled us to watch and listen. The promising Ng — whose first full-length play (wo)men drew rave reviews in 2010 — reveals herself to be a shrewd observer with a wonderful grasp of dialogue and a knack for making the mundane pop out memorably.

A tube of toothpaste, the act of tying a necktie, or the promise of Switzerland become subtle metaphors for the couple’s relationship. A quirky moment of SMSing provides, ironically, one of the rare moments of tenderness between them. A scene of the two playfully betting on a TV football match descends into a fierce shouting match.

This is, by no means, a sentimental portrayal of marriage. There’s a tug-of-war between connection and detachment between the two characters, something director Claire Wong seems to heighten by sometimes keeping the actors apart in even during some of the more emotionally intimate moments.

The strong chemistry as husband-and-wife between Foo and Ng also comes from the fact that their characters are just as alive as individuals: The former’s grumpy, calculative and filial Gerald a perfect foil to the latter’s dog- and God-loving Swen, whose loneliness as a housewife is truly heartbreaking.

All these said, the play’s open-ended portrait-in-time approach can be as much its strength as its weakness. In the end, we never really know what eventually happens to Gerald and Swen. There is a kind of ambiguity here that allows the play be seen as both a cautionary tale and an inspirational one. Then again, perhaps marriage is exactly that, for better or for worse.

(For Better Or For Worse runs until March 24, 8pm, Drama Centre Black Box. With 3pm weekend matinees. Tickets at S$35 from Sistic.)