Emily was in Johor Bahru again!

 

After 25 years, Emily Gan, the character featured in Malaysia’s longest-running monologue, Emily of Emerald Hill, was back again to enchant audiences in Johor Bahru.

 

Pearlly Chua as Emily Gan in Malaysia's
 longest-running monologue, Emily of Emerald Hill

This long-awaited showcase of Emily of Emerald Hill, a play written in 1982 by Singapore playwright, Stella Kon, was proudly presented in Johor Bahru by the play’s Director, Chin San Sooi, in collaboration with Stagecraft Theatre Productions.

 

When the play was first staged with Pearlly Chua in its title role and directed by San Sooi, they took the play from Malaysia to appreciative audiences in Singapore, Canada, China and Australia.

 

As Pearlly continued to reprise her role as Emily in this play, she inevitably became synonymous with the title character.

 

Audience entering the auditorium at JOTIC
to enjoy, Emily of Emerald Hill

While Pearlly was born in Singapore, she went to school at Sekolah Sultan Ibrahim (SSI), Kulai, while her father worked with the Malaysian Civil Service in Johor.

 

So this second staging of Emily in Johor was like a home-coming for Pearlly where her family, friends and former schoolmates had the pleasure to enjoy her highly acclaimed performance of this title role, in Johor Bahru.

 

Looking back, this Emily show being staged in Johor Bahru all happened on 15 October 2017 when I met with San Sooi, at the 200^th staging of this play in Kuala Lumpur, with the incomparable Pearlly Chua in the title role.

 

Among the early arrivals were Pearlly's former
schoolmates in SSI Kulai and former
Art Teacher, Abdullah Yusof [Right]

When I was introduced to San Sooi, he was told that I am from Johor and in the course of our conversation, I learnt that his desire was for the world to see this play so I asked him to consider bringing Emily of Emerald Hill to Johor Bahru.

 

It was a matter of, Better late than Never, because years later in November 2023, San Sooi wrote to My Johor Stories, seeking to partner with a producer in Johor to present Emily of Emerald Hill here. I did not hesitate to reply and when San Sooi wrote back, he said (and I quote):

 

“Dear Peggy,

Thank you for reading my appeal for a producer for Emily. My wish is for the world to see Emily. Since you last saw it, we have re-interpreted the play in some parts.”

 

Director, Chin San Sooi, putting his personal
touch to the stage setting before the show starts

To kick-off discussions, he also provided an outline of the collaboration proposal for the consideration of the potential producer in Johor.

 

Meanwhile, I am familiar with Elizabeth Louis and her work in Stagecraft Johor Bahru. In December 2019, I had the pleasure to experience a live musical show staged here by Theatrethreesixty Kuala Lumpur in collaboration with Stagecraft Theatre Productions.

 

As such, I shared the proposal from San Sooi with Elizabeth for her consideration. I assured her that fans of Pearlly Chua as Emily on both sides of the Causeway, will certainly support this show, if and when it was staged here.

 

When Elizabeth expressed interest in producing Emily in Johor Bahru, it was my privilege to connect San Sooi with Stagecraft for them to start discussions on a possible collaboration.

 

The props for the play are simple but effective
 

As weeks passed, my fingers (toes and eyes!) were crossed, hopeful that something positive will emerge from their discussions.

 

Then in January 2024, Elizabeth updated that San Sooi was coming to Johor Bahru to view possible venues for the show. This, I thought, was a positive sign that something was really happening.

 

On 31 May 2024, when I spotted a promotional poster on social media for the Emily shows that were going to be staged in Johor Bahru, I started sharing it with all my contacts who enjoyed live theatre shows.

 

Emily in a scene, sewing a
patchwork quilt

When tickets went on sale in June, the earliest response I received was from Chong LH, a former classmate of Pearlly Chua at SSI Kulai, who assured me that she and her friends have already got their tickets to the show.

 

She happily declared, “We are proud of her!”

 

Aware that Emily on Emerald Hill had a predominantly older fan base, Stagecraft had a huge challenge to reach out to them through social media so a great deal of personal messages were sent out to create awareness that Emily was back in town after 25 years.

 

When the shows opened in September, it was not just fans, family and friends of hers but I believe Johor was proud of Pearlly Chua who performed her 220^th, 221^st, 222^nd shows in Johor Bahru.

 

As the lights dimmed in the theatre for the start of the show, I observed that San Sooi was on the stage, putting on the final touches to the stage setting before the show opened.

 

Emily in sorrow when she received a telegram
from England that shared tragic news

Having worked with Pearlly and the Emily team for so many shows, staged both locally and abroad, San Sooi added his personal touch to make sure that all the props, sound and lighting arrangements are in order for the performances.

 

The show was like a walk down the proverbial Memory Lane for the audience who could warmly appreciate the Nyonya-Baba culture and life in a bygone era, where a family matriarch shares her personal experience with flashbacks to life as a young girl when she was married to a wealthy, older man as a second wife.

 

The duration for the two-part show was one hour and 45 minutes with a brief intermission for a few adjustments to the simple stage set and for Pearlly to change her costume.

 

Pearlly Chua in her element as Emily Gan

From start till the end, Emily held her audience captive and transported us to another place as she shared her life’s joys and sorrows, with moments of audience participation that happened quite spontaneously…

 

When Pearlly took a bow at the end of the performance, she proudly announced that this was her 222^nd show after her first showing in Johor Bahru some 25 years ago.

 

Then theatre lights came on and chairs were set up in front of the stage for Pearlly, San Sooi and Stella Kon to sit down for an interactive time with the audience.

 

Pearlly Chua taking a bow after the show

It was a very special time when the actor, director and playwright were there to listen to audience feedback, comments and questions, and respond to them.

 

From the audience interactions, I soon discovered that in addition to Pearlly’s former schoolmates, former Art teacher and family friends from Kulai, the audience included Stella’s classmates from the Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore as well as members from Friends of the Museums, Singapore.

 

When someone in the audience addressed Pearlly as Emily, Pearlly did not hesitate to correct her with a reminder that she was Pearlly. This drew much laughter as it proved that Pearlly had grown synonymous with her Emily character.

 

San Sooi, Stella and Pearlly [Left to Right]

Then someone asked Pearlly if her character was similar to that of Emily. To which Pearlly smiled and graciously replied that her former classmates could probably better respond to such a query.

 

There was hardly a pause when Chong LH, her former classmate, stood up and shared that Pearlly had a bubbly character and was dramatic since she was young.

 

Pearlly’s former Art Teacher, Abdullah Yusof, was overwhelmed with emotion as he congratulated Pearlly on her performance. He brought his grandchildren along to watch the show and expressed his desire for them to learn the English language.

 

“Malays must know English to survive,” said Abdullah. “I love Bahasa Melayu but I also love English. The more languages we know, the better,” he added.

 

Stella responding to queries in
an interactive time with the audience

Meanwhile over the years, Emily on Emerald Hill had been played by different actors and directed by different directors, each with their own strengths and abilities, so Stella always gives the artistes the liberty to interpret the play in their own way.

 

She said this play was written in 1982 for the Singapore Play Writing Competition so it did not feature much Hokkien dialect or Baba Malay language. When asked if she would make any changes to the play, her reply was short and simple: “Nothing!”

 

By all indications, this interesting interactive session could go on and on until someone tactfully moved to set up the stage for the audience to capture photo mementoes with Pearlly and treasure their experience of Emily of Emerald Hill in Johor.

 

Meanwhile, the team at Stagecraft Theatre Productions was much encouraged by the audience response to the staging of Emily and aims to build on this to stage more shows here.

 

Live theatre and Shakespeare fans, please stay tuned for updates on the next exciting shows, possibly Othello by the KL Shakespeare Players, coming soon in April 2025.

 

For more info about Stagecraft Theatre Productions and show updates, visit their social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.