Emily of Emerald Hill - Gillian koh:]

Sorry Ms Lenden for posting it so late, it kind of slipped my mind :p. it won't happen again! (or at least i'll try not to :] )

Ivan Heng portrayed his character Emily, very well. From the moment he stepped onto the stage until the moment he left it, there was not a single moment where he stopped being in character. He portrayed the female character so well that it puts most actresses to shame.

 He portrayed Emily by having very feminine gestures such as the swaying of his hips from side to side in a very Peranakan way. His hand gestures were also very feminine as they are very smooth, fluent, twirls. He portrays Emily the matriarch very well by keeping his head high with his chin sticking out. He gives specific strict orders and bosses around his/her servants very much like a typical head of the house Non ya. He keeps Emily’s peranakan upbringing and way of life true to the traditional 1900s non ya. He does this by using Malay terms that the peranakans use. Often it is to inject humour to entertain and engage the crowd. Emily has controlled movements – feet close together, straight back, hands in front or by her sides and head movements that was tilted slightly downwards.

There was this part of the monologue that struck me the most. That part was when Ivan Heng had to deliver a series of lines at a fast pace, enuounce the words properly, do a series of actions and concentrate simultaneously. That was the part that showed his prowess and talent in the acting industry. If I were him, I would have gone totally bonkers! I feel that this part was to inject humour into the crowd to lighten up the mood and change the atmosphere.

There were certain parts of the play where Ivan Heng had to switch characters. He had to switch from Emily to her husband’s father and then to Susie and back to Emily. What truly stunned me was that he could switch so fast and effortlessly. The characters were of a wide variety and for him to pull such a feat off, I really wonder if there is anything he cannot possibly do. He switched to Emily’s father-in-law by using a low pitched voice, an English accent, a different posture and gestures. The posture from Emily’s gentle, sweet and controlled transformed into a confident, educated pose. He would then switch to Susie in a blink of an eye. From Emily’s father-in-law’s character, he would switch to Susie who had a typical Singaporean accent that sounds like it was said through the nasal. Susie also had a very unladylike way of standing which was slouching. The characters, Emily’s father –in-law and Susie were very much exaggerated. This was to add a bit of humour but another side to Emily’s story so that it is not entirely biased. I feel that this extra window made the play much more enjoyable to watch.

There was engagement of the audience throughout the play which was mostly impromptu. I thought that Ivan Heng’s ability to think on the spot quickly was inspiring. He hardly stuttered or paused and made it seem like it was part of the play. And yes, I was fooled into thinking it was all scripted.

So, to conclude, I truly praise Ivan Heng for his talent and am eager to witness more of his work.

Emily Of Emerald Hill- Raeburn.

I thoroughly enjoyed Emily of Emerald Hill. Before watching the play, I felt really excite to watch the play, I was very interested as to how they were going to display Pernakan culture, however, I was also a little apprehensive as I realised that it was going to be a 2 hour monologue.

I was amazed at how Ivan Heng was able to make it seem as though there was another person on stage with him. There was one part of the play when Emily had to hug her son. Although there wasn’t another actor playing Emily’s son, Ivan Heng to reached out, bent his elbows and curled his fingers as if he were embracing Emily’s son. 

I also enjoyed how he changed the way he spoke. Once, was when Emily was on the phone with her friends and the caterer. When she spoke to the caterer, Ivan Heng, spoke in a fake English accent but Ivan Heng wanted to show that Emily had lost her temper he would speak Singlish. Ivan heng would also change the way he spoke when he change his character. When he turned into Emily’s sister-in-law, Ivan Heng would use a nasle, whiney voice. But when he turned into Emily’s father-in-law, he would have a very deep voice.

Lastly, I was astounded at the way he spoke. He was able to speak an incredible tempo. At some points of the play, to show that he was busy, Ivan Heng would speak exceedingly fast. When I heard him, I was so amazed at how he did not fumble on his words. 

EMILY OF EMERALD HILL-Nicole Cheah

We went to watch Emily of Emerald Hill played by Ivan Heng at the Esplanade. I was surprised that it was only one actor doing the whole play, as it was 2 hours long.

Ivan Heng I thought was really amazing as if you didn’t know that a man was playing a woman you would really think it was a woman. He’s mannerism on stage was exactly like a woman you would not mistake him for a man. Honestly, I admire him for playing a woman with much confidence, which was so convincing!

In order to make him sound and act like a woman, he used a higher voice range and talked with much enthusiasm, walked with his hips swaying like a typical aunty, he had his hands flying everywhere as he spoke to exaggerate everything he said as he was playing a nyonya. I also thought that he was really good at changing his accent to make it convincing during the part where he made several phone calls. He just changed the pitch of his voice and the emphasis on certain parts of the words to suit the various types of accent he used.

I loved the way he changed characters as it was very distinct and it could clearly be seen without us wondering what just happened. To change characters, he would suddenly jerk after walking really fast and turn around in an instant like “BAM! IM SOMEONE ELSE” with a completely different gesture and posture to characterize his new character.  That was really cool.

I also liked how he talked very quickly during one scene where he was nagging at the children to do this and that. Though he spoke really quickly like a bullet train he was able to enunciate his words clearly so that the audience were still able to understand despite the speed as normally when people attempt to speak fast it would come out as gibberish.

All in all I thought that Ivan Heng is a talented actor and really good in changing characters, as he is able to change his pitch of voice distinctively and change his mannerism to show the contrast in the character that he was playing and the character he changed into later. This allows the audience to clearly understand that it is now a different character and not be lost.

I really enjoyed this play it was something different.

Emily of Emerald Hill -Dawn Yiu

[Emily of Emerald Hill]
When I realised that this play was going to be 2 hours long and its only going to have only one actor acting, I was quite disappointed because I thought it would be really boring, however it turns out that I was wrong, really wrong.

In this play, Ivan Heng played a role as a nonya. I thought he potrayed this character very well. At first when he spoke, although it was a deep manly voice I was just unsure of how the play was going to be, but at the end of it, I was fully convinced that he is a woman. The way he imitates how women walk,talk and even how they place their hands is even more feminine than what a present woman would do. The way he moved his body, swaying his hips back and forth when he walked,and the way he lazily placed his hand and arm on top of the other when thinking and speaking.

I thought that this play was very clear to me was also because of how he changed his character. Whenever he changed from a character to another, there would be something significant that Ivan Heng would do to let it represent the character making it clear to the audience which character is he playing. For example, when he changed his role to Emily's father-in-law, he would walk in a strut, speak in a deep English accent and always holding a pipe to his lips. When he changes his role to Susie, he would use a more irritating and nosey voice for her. 

All in all, I really thought that Ivan Heng is a strong actor, despite being a man, he could convinced the audience that he is a woman, and that the way he acts, talks, walk could change the mood and atmosphere of the play. For example at the end of scene 1, the way he sobbed and poured his heart out on stage was ( :O ) beyond words. His body was bent so forward as if he was pleading for something, and how he fling both of his hands out when Emily found put that Richard (her son) was dead.

I had a really good time watching this play and I thought it was definitely worth while sitting for 2 hours watching Ivan Heng on stage.

Emily OF Emerald Hill ~ xoxoLauren

I watched Emily of Emerald Hill on Friday the 11th of March at 8pm. When I'd first heard that we were going to watch it, i was actually quite doubtful about it, so I did some research on it and found out that this piece was a monologue starring Ivan Heng. What was really interesting was that Ivan Heng would be playing the role of a woman, I was very fascinated by this and i remember thinking that there was no way this show could be good, and that it would have sucked. However, i was proved entirely wrong that night.

I loved the way Ivan Heng was able to play the role of Emily despite being a man. I feel that at times, he played a better woman then an actual woman. (Does that make sense?) Ivan was able to show different emotions on his character; for example, he was really soft when it came to sad and mysterious scenes, like when Emily's son had died. Whenever Ivan wanted to change characters, which was quite rare, was simple but yet obvious. He made your of his posture and hand gestures when playing different characters. I especially loved how he was able to do improvised work with the audience when he spoke to us.

I was really amazing to be watching a two and a half hour long monologue and not feel “sian”. This was really something that I have taken home with me and I hope that I will benefit form it.

Emily of Emerald Hill-Nicole R.

Emily of Emerald Hill was really unexpected, in a good way. I hadn't expected this play acted out by one actor to be as enthralling as it was and i really thought Ivan Heng did a brilliant job in his role as a Nyonya, mother and wife. His characterisation was done so well, it was really distinct and i bet all of us were completely convinced he was a Nyonya. In the play, he had to act as if there were other people on stage and the emotion clearly expressed in his voice and actions made those imaginary people real which made the audience believe that there were other people on stage, which made the play an even better experience for the audience.

Because of the good characterisation which was probably due to the understanding Ivan Heng had of his character, Emily, i was able to understand that Emily is actually a very lonely person. She tries to cover this up through the many masks she wears and the audience can see this from the phone calls with the many different people she talks to. She impersonates a British person, speaks like a gangster together with many other things. Emily tried to hide from a loneliness, trying to preoccupy herself with attending and holding luxurious functions so she would not have to face her loneliness. However, you can see that once in a while, the lights go dark and Emily says something sad. This showed a slip of her facade that she put up to try and avoid loneliness. However, you can see her breaking down slowly through the play as one by one, her family members supposedly leave her, her son committing suicide, husband dying, daughter and son getting married and moving away from Emerald Hill.

Ivan Heng also connected with his audience by 'punishing' the latecomers and interacting with them even while the play was going on. I thought it was a really good incorporation of reality and the world of Emily Of Emerald Hill as it made it feel more realistic, like we were really inside the play. The stage gave a sort of three-dimensional effect that gave that feeling too, especially when the real firecrackers went off.

Overall i felt Emily Of Emerald Hill was really awesome and i would watch it again. But i'm happy i got to watch it at all. :D

MELISSA MAE - Emily Of Emerald Hill

Emily of Emerald Hill was just simply amazing. From the day that Ms Lenden told us that we were going to watch Emily of Emerald Hill, I was just really excited to watch it. My aunty is Ivan Heng's friend and she told me that the play was going to be worth watching. It was a 2 hour long monologue that was fantastically done by Ivan Heng. He did a really good job impersonating a local nonya aunty. He basically showed the audience how great he was at acting. He managed to change from character to character very distinctly and fast. There were a few scenes in the play where Emily would impersonate her sister in law, Suzy. She did this by dragging her words and the sound of her voice was as if she was pinching her nose to make that annoying nasal sound. Ivan's impersonation was very, very funny. Okay back to the point. When I was settling down in the theatre, I noticed that there was a chair on the right of the stage (facing the audience). During the play, I realised that the chair was significant as beside it, was a telephone. Emily call people from that phone. She even talked to people in "American" accents or Singlish accents. It was such a big change, but he managed to make it work out. The play started with Emily dancing towards the audience on the big stage; there were many doors on the sides. And she ended the play by dancing back into the back door of the stage. This was to show that she was opening and closing the play. The play also had many wonderful props. There was the dinner party scene where Richard (Emily's son) was celebrating the news of him going to England and his birthday at the same time. The prop was a moving staircase. Before the dinner scene, the "changing room" was joined to the staircase. The "changing room" just rose from the stage floor. It was really cool and people started going "ooooh did you see that?". I could also tell that Ivan Heng is quite a comedian. He made Mr Juraimy and Ms Tina stand up for coming in late and said things like "1050 people no traffic jam, you got traffic jam uh." Ivan also made them apologise to the audience for being late by repeating "I will never be late again". ALL of the KC girls who went were laughing so hard. This also showed that Ivan is a great stage performer/actor. He could come up with funny things to say on the dot and it ended up successfully. I almost cried when Emily got the telegram saying that her son, Richard had passed away due to suicide. The mood changed from "comedy" to "tragedy". It was really sad. However, I still found the play more comedic than sad.

Out of all this, I have to say that the play was very good. It was worth $58+. And it was worth my time. :)

Emily of Emerald Hill~ VERA WAS HERE.

Emily of Emerald Hill

Talk about alliteration! Haha anyways, yes, the most anticipated production of the year, possibly of 10 years, ever since W!ld R!ce first started out. Personally, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to watching a 2 hour long monologue, more to the supper afterwards. (I’m sorry ,I love food, okay.) Not the point. The point is, that I couldn’t imagine myself stuck in the seat listening to only one person speaking for 2 hours or more. It seemed so boring, and I didn’t know what to expect.

However, when I first laid my eyes on the set, I knew the monologue had to be good. The set was really queer, as if there were many dimensions on the stage itself. I’m sorry I’m off tracking, but I could go on and on about the set and lights and sounds but I shall stop myself. Anyways, the most interesting part was that Ivan Heng played the role of a female nonya perfectly, so perfectly that I almost forgot that he was a male, if not for the fact that his voice was so low. His mannerisms (like the way he moved his hands with the handkerchief, the way he walked and spoke) were very much like a typical “auntie” and I was very impressed that he could impersonate a female even better than most actresses themselves. It requires a lot of skill and definitely a very good actor to play a role of another gender so this most certainly says something about Ivan Heng. There was a distinct change of character with the help of lighting. For example, when he wanted to change from a male character to a female one, the lights changed from black to pink, which was a generic stereotype. Whenever Ivan Heng wanted to change to the role of the father, we would always be ‘holding’ a pipe and this made it very clear that the character of father was being played. It was really cool how despite this being a monologue, Ivan made it seem as if there were more characters than just him onstage. He managed to create an atmosphere of more than just one actor and I think that this is a huge plus-point for Emily of Emerald hill.