Earlier
this afternoon, I watched W!ld Rice’s latest adaptation of “Emily on Emerald
Hill” at the newly opened Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre @ W!ld Rice Funan. Emily was
played by Ivan Heng. As you may already know, Emily on Emerald Hill is written
by playwright Stella Kon which tells the story of a Nonya at different stages
of her life: as a young girl, a young wife, a loving mother and dignified
grandmother. These stages of her life are acted out by a single cast member
through a 2-hour monologue, which takes you through a myriad of emotions. Emily
on Emerald Hill is one of the most well-known plays in the region with countless
of retellings by theatre stalwarts such as Margaret Chang, Neo Swee Lin, Pearly
Chua, Karen Tan and Ivan Heng. I have watched this play acted by Ivan Heng in
2011, Karen Tan in 2015, Pearly Chua in 2017 and Ivan Heng again in 2019. Each
time I saw it, they were very good and different in its own way, but this 2019
version was really special.
Firstly,
I must say that this new venue is world-class. The intimacy and closeness of
the audience to the stage is beyond anything available in the region. I was
seated in the front row and the stage was only an arm’s length away. This
closeness enabled Ivan to interact with the audience in ways I have never
experienced before. Ivan didn’t just break the proverbial ‘fourth wall’, he
demolished it and put a glass door!! Several times during the performance, he interacted
with the audience so that the audience felt like they were part of Emily’s life
and not just someone looking in. I was extremely lucky to be called to stand up
earlier and I felt so happy to be a part of the production. Due to the superb
sound staging and acoustics, every footstep, every swish of the baju kebaya and
most importantly every little change in Ivan’s tone can be heard and felt so
clearly. The costumes used today were beautiful and all the bling on Ivan … WOW
!!!
Next,…
Ivan Heng. What can I say about Ivan Heng that has not been said and published by
countless of international theatre reviewers? Through the years of experiencing
Ivan, I have run out of superlatives to describe how good he is. (Some of you
readers may be thinking what a fanboy I am. I believe in giving credit where it
is due.) Only two actors in Singapore can perform such magic on stage, Adrian
Pang and Ivan Heng. Ivan Heng’s portrayal of Emily in 2011 was very good, this
time, it was mesmerizingly perfect. His ability to emanate the emotions of joyous
elation, enthusiasm, anger and sorrow is second to none. Remember that there
are no other cast members but himself. Backdrop, props, lighting are all a
small part of this play, 90% of the experience was down to Ivan. Every raise of
his eyebrow, every flick of his finger, every shake of his hips, every step he
takes is just spot-on. His acting had the audience in a trance, controlling
their every emotion, from heart-wrenching sorrow to joy and laughter.
As a
bonus at today’s performance, we were taught several important lessons. One was
on ‘theatre etiquette’ and the other, the recipe for ‘Babi Buah Keluak.’ As we
often experience during theatre performances here in Singapore, there will be a
handful of the audience who come late to the performance and those who use
their handphones during the show to take a photo. During today’s show, they
were called out by Ivan. I am glad that theatre practitioners and artists
nowadays call them out because this lack of respect has gone on for too long
and theatre goers must learn to respect the cast and the majority of the audience
who are on time (at least 15 minutes before the show) and what it means by ‘keep
your mobile phone.’ The ‘punishment’ was done in good humour but I think they
will never be late again.
The extraordinary atmosphere (due in no small part to the W!ld Rice theatre),
inspired imagination and direction of Glenn Goei and Ivan Heng’s flawless acting
has made this production an exceptional masterpiece. As 'instructed' by Ivan today, "a memory is not a photo
taken by a camera, but more importantly it is something you remember in your
mind and in your heart."
As I
conclude this, I cannot help but think of the words of the late P. Ramlee, immortalised
in “Getaran Jiwa” as the most apt description of my Emily on Emerald Hill 2019 experience -
Getaran
jiwa melanda hatiku (Soul vibration hits my heart)
Moga
dapat membangkitkan (Hope it could touch you)
Sedarlah
akmu wahai insan (You have to realise)
Tak
mungkin hilang (Will not be lost)
Thank you W!ld Rice for touching my heart and the hearts of thousands... you truly deserve the ovations...
---
Emily
on Emerald Hill will be showing from the 4 – 28 September 2019 at The Ngee Ann
Kongsi Theatre @ W!ld Rice, Funan. As of time of writing, tickets are extremely
limited and or sold out already. My advice is to check regularly (every hour)
on the W!ld Rice Facebook page and hope / pray that additional shows are added.
