17 October 1999
The Sunday Star
An inimitable Emily
by Grace Chin


EMILY of Emerald Hill has been around for a long time. Fifteen years, to be exact.

It's a play that has been done to death. So when director Krishen Jit and director-actor Ivan Heng decided to resurrect the play yet another time, they gave it a new surge of life by adding an interesting twist to it. This time, Emily will be played by a man--Heng himself.

Ivan Heng is in his element as he steps into the beaded slippers of Emily.

No stranger to female impersonation, Heng was in his element as he stepped into the Peranakan beaded slippers of Emily. Playing to a full house in practically every show, Heng gave a flawless portrayal of his character, and kept the show going with his frenetic energy and compelling performance.

Those who have watched the show before know the plot. An intrepid and determined woman who has survived a broken home (father died; mother abandoned her) and manoeuvred herself into a powerful position within a rich Peranakan family by playing family politics, Emily runs her household, including her children and husband, with an iron fist.

Somewhere along the way, Emily makes the mistake of controlling her family far too much, thus driving her eldest son, Richard, to commit suicide while her husband finds solace in another woman's arms.

Undoubtedly, the multi-faceted role was perfect fodder for Heng's thespian-like abilities. To play a role that combined vivacious woman, dutiful wife and overbearing mother was no mean feat. But to portray Emily from her teenage years well into her dotage years with all the accompanying joys and disappointments was a triumph that Heng has achieved with relish.

As Emily, Heng beautifully played the many roles that were required to bring depth to Emily's character--as a betrayed and abandoned child, as the scintillating party hostess, as a heartbroken wife and mother, as a woman with dignity and grace despite the many sorrows she's had to shoulder.

Although the long-drawn-out dramatic scenes in Emily's life--when she received news of Richard's death, when her husband refused to see her even on his death bed, when she and Emerald Hill became relics of the past in an increasingly modern Singaporean society--were a tad too lengthy for me, they aided in underscoring the tragic moments in Emily's life and allowed their full impact to be absorbed by the audience.

And if there were times when the role seemed overdone, it only served to render Emily larger than life, which was Krishen's intention from the start.

It was amazing just watching Heng become the character he played. Through Emily's eyes and memories, Heng also had the opportunity to play other characters, such as Emily's father-in-law equipped with a British accent and a swagger and Emily's mother who abandoned her daughter whom she deemed useless and worthless.

The show also proved to be an enjoyable interactive experience, with Heng improvising the lines while he engaged the audience in delightful and witty talk.

Heng's frenetic energy and compelling performance had the audience spellbound.

Like the time when Emily recalls teaching a sewing class. Several people in the first few rows found themselves with sewing baskets and voila! became Emily's students. Or the scene where Emily celebrates her beloved son's birthday and the audience became party guests and had to sing the birthday song. (One night the audience was hesitant and she declared, "You have to decide whether you're at this party or not!" and the audience smilingly, heartily sang along.) Even the intermission had an entertaining moment when Emily made a startling appearance amid the crowd and turned the scene into a market place. Suddenly, some of the audience members were chosen as her driver, her maid, her cook and the fish monger!

With Heng keeping us entertained by doing the unexpected, there was nary a dull moment as the audience never knew what might happen next and when it would become slightly interactive.

It is not the first time that I've watched the play, nor is it the second. Yet, there is something so fresh and unusual about Heng's acting that I found myself enjoying the play all over again without the shadows of past great actresses dogging it. Indeed, no comparison can be made--neither is it necessary.

Copyright © 1999. Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. (Co No. 10894-D)
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Go to the Dramalab website archive of Emily of Emerald Hill.