From my own point of view, Emily of Emerald
Hill is quite a riveting play. It tells the story of a girl who was abandoned
by her mother to the mercy of her relatives after her father had passed away
just because she was a female. She was then married off to her distant cousin
in an arranged marriage and had to climb her way to the seat of the matriarch
of the family. And also to earn the respect of the other family members using
her intelligence and wit when she was denied the respect and acceptance that
was normally bestow upon the eldest daughter-in-law just because she was younger
than them.
It is also a tale of an
insecure girl who hid within the facade of the matriarch of the family. An
insecure woman who desperately tries to control and manages the lives of those
around her so that they will always be dependent on her; so that she will have
the assurance of knowing that her life has some significance and that no one is
going to throw her back into the gutter. It is also the tale of how a woman who
had achieved what she wanted and yet lost her husband and her son along the way.
A tale of a strong woman who had weathered all kind of hardships in life and had
stood tall in the face of tragedies and yet ended up alone in her old age.
It
is a play that makes you ponder on whether or not one can really take destiny
in their hand and emerge as the winner in this game of life?
I do applaud Stella Kon
for coming up and also developing Emily into such a character that we love and
despise at the same time. Emily is a woman who had to face one tragedy after
another in her life but instead of submissively surrendering to the cards that
life dealt her with, she fought for her own happiness and turn out to be one
strong woman that one can’t help but to look up upon although at times her
stifling need to control and boss the lives of those around her are frowned
upon by us.
Painting a vulnerable girl
who is struggling to strive in a modernized Peranakan Chinese family, who at
times is still trapped in the traditional way of life in the ancestral mansion
of Emerald Hill, as a setting is quite as captivating a background as it is. Despite
being a one-woman play which might start off as a bit boring seeing that other
than Emily the rest of the characters are invisible in the play but as you go
along you are gradually encapsulated in this woman’s journey in life.
This play has taught me
not to put my judgemental glasses up all the time because there’s always more
to a person than what he or she is showing to the world. Emily might appear as
a domestic tyrant but deep down she’s actually just an insecure girl-child who
desperately wants to belong. This shows me that no one has the right to judge
another because what one shows to the world is actually just a tip of an
iceberg of who he or she actually is.
Emily has also taught me that it is better to
lose a battle so that one can win the war. She was bullied tremendously by her
sister-in-law, Susie, when she first married into Emerald Hill but instead of
crying over it or starting petty arguments she instead put her whole effort and
attention in trying to get into the good book of her mother-in-law which she
successfully did. This strategy of hers taught me that it is good to sometimes employ
patience and tolerance in the face of adversity so long as I would come out as
the winner in the long run.
Furthermore,
this play has also taught me that you shouldn’t let your past rule your life.
Emily is a dominant tyrant who was controlled by her sense of insecurity to do
what she does in order to fill the void that was left gaping open by her
anxiety of not being wanted. This resulted in her driving her son, Richard, to
commit suicide and also to lose her husband. Although I can see where she’s
coming from but that doesn’t mean that I condone what she’s doing. She let her
past overrode her and that in turn mess up her future. It made me realizes that
one shouldn’t dwell too much in the past but instead keep it as a lesson for
future references.
To
sum it all up, Emily of Emerald Hill is a thought provoking play that probes on
your innermost thoughts and make one questions on what is right and what is
wrong. Is it right for Emily to push Richard off the edge just in order for him
to be better than his cousin or is it wrong of a mother for wanting what she
thought was the best for her son? Is it right for Emily to hold onto a husband
who no longer wants her or is it wrong of a wife for wanting to keep her
marriage intact?
Emily
of Emerald Hill is indeed a fascinating play.
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