Since I started theatregoing in my college years, there's always a run of Stella Kon's Emily of Emerald Hill happening every so often (Every few years, I think?). But I figure like anything else, there is always another run happening in the future. So this has never made a strong bleep in my radar. But better late than never, I suppose.
Emily of Emerald Hill is a dramatic monologue. The entire 2-act play is performed by 1 stage actress, Pearlly Chua who narrates, reviews and enacts her life as daughter, wife and mother. But there are two roles in it--Emily and you. You play the part of Emily's friend to whom she confides the story of her life and gradually exposes the secrets of her mind.
So the lead in this production, Pearlly Chua, has a huge milestone coming in that by the end of the run here at DPAC, she would have played the role of Emily 200 times, which is more than anyone else in the history of this particular play.
Drove over in the heavy pouring rain (I realise that at least half the time I go to a live show, I'm always driving in crappy weather), didn't take too long to collect my ticket at the box office (and got my refund in ticket price difference, yay!) and walked over to Brew Time for a hot chocolate. Regretfully, it tasted more like hot milk with a hint of chocolate than hot chocolate.
It started around 8.45 p.m. once everyone was seated. It wasn't a full house and I moved to another seat after the 15 minute intermission. Performance itself was about 100 minutes, so the intermission came after the first hour. I took the intermission to buy a copy of the play (RM42, but can't grumble about the price too much as I don't think I could find it elsewhere anyway) before the mad rush to get them on the way out (which was what happened). Director Chin San Sooi was also in attendance.
As a one-woman show, there is some audience interaction. So if I was you, I would not want to sit in the front rows because having Pearlly Chua as Emily stare right at you is a bit unnerving, let alone address you. I didn't laugh as much as other people did, but that's just me. Definitely wasn't expecting to see white people in attendance, let alone tall, bald white dudes who sat in the front row and was part of the market scene, haha.
If you've seen this in the past, let me know what you thought it of then. Or if you've seen it this run, let me know what you thought of it also. Anyway, the current run started on Thursday and will end next weekend.
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