Emily of Emerald Hill

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Emily of Emerald Hill is a play by Singaporean writer Stella Kon. It won the Singapore National Playwriting Competition in 1983. The story follows 14-year-old Emily as she arrives in 1929 at Oberon Mansion, the Gan family home in Emerald Hill, Singapore, to marry her cousin. The play traces her life as a conniving daughter-in-law, a society hostess, a meddling matriarch, and finally a lonely grandmother. It is known for expressing a Singaporean identity through Peranakan culture, and a 2012 exhibition at the Peranakan Museum highlighted this.

Kon wrote the play in three months in 1982 while living in Ipoh, Malaysia, and it was her third competition win (after The Bridge in 1977 and The Trial in 1982). The work is a monodrama and remains popular partly because it can be staged cheaply. It premiered in Seremban, Malaysia with Leow Puay Tin as Emily, and was later staged in Singapore in 1985 at the Drama Festival, directed by Max Le Bond and starring Margaret Chan. Other actors who have played Emily include Leow Puay Tin and Ivan Heng. Since 2000, the Singapore theatre company W!LD RICE has staged it several times, including a 2019 production with Heng as Emily and Glen Goei directing. The play has been translated into several languages.