Emily of Emerald Hill: A W!ld Rice 10th Anniversary Production
It is three hours after the curtains have gone down on this evening’s performance, and all I can think of, as with Margaret Chan’s version of Emily, is how much actor and character have become fused. A most awkward moment arose when Heng/Emily, getting visibly annoyed at not being able to don a ball gown in time for the next scene, exclaimed, "Sh*t!" The mic was on, and the expletive clearly heard by all. One wondered if it was a genuine slip-up, or if Heng actually meant his character to show most unlady-like frustration. And then again, it didn’t matter - Heng/Emily have bonded just so. The dramatist and the matriarch. The dramatriarch.
The set was an excellent realisation of a Peranakan interior a la blanc, the lighting design, multi-media elements and costumes superb; no surprises there when luminaries like Chris Chua, Mac Chan, Brian Gothong Tan and Frederick Lee are on the team.
Heng, horribly hoarse voice notwithstanding - another diva, Whitney Houston, comes to mind - commanded the stage with a fiery passion and energy that was then relinquished in the last half hour to depict a steep change from domineering wife and mother into frail and stiff-limbed octogenarian. Cue pathos overload! Weep as Emily tries to sing an ancient lyric in a voice utterly gone to seed and has visions of her long-dead son coming to her side.
Missing however, amidst all the above, was a crucial moment of release and redemption. For all its campiness, and much of it a repeat from the Jit/Heng collaboration of a decade ago, this Emily comes off much sadder - the end of her life no more than an endless sequence of days sitting alone in an old house, tormented by the echoes and ghosts of times long past. This time, there is no relief. The material girl is rendered immaterial, the narrative rearranged into a macabre memorial service for a matriarch of such masculine mettle, the role could only be played by...a man.
The lights come up again, and Ivan Heng appears, to rapturous applause. And as the illusion of the past two hours is broken, we realise that Emily lives on, but only in our memories. Poignancy as the final point - what a stab to the heart!