Who's Your Amah

We've been liking less-publicised histories for a while now; in the white-washed Grand Malaysian Project, it's a wellspring of ideas. The latest thing to happen at The Actors Studio @ Lot 10 will be Women of Silk River, a devised play about the traditional amah: a Chinese émigré with bunned hair and samfu, brought over to serve as celibate household help. These amahs quickly became an influential force in early Malaysian life.

"They were a group of independent women who were able to protect and fend for their livelihood," explained director Kimmy Kiew. "They were pioneers of women's rights at a time, when society was predominantly controlled by men."

Improvised by Kiew and her actors, Women of Silk River follows the lives of four amahs, a British woman, and a mysterious Japanese man. While Kiew hopes that watching the performance will be akin to "flipping through an old photo album", it will not live totally in the past; audiences may find that it echoes the experiences of Indonesian maids - the amahs of today.

Women of Silk River, featuring Dawn Cheong, Prisca Florence Wong, Helena Foo, Mien Ly and Nicole Fuchs, runs from 4 to 7 February 2010 at The Actors Studio@ Lot 10. Call 03-2142 2009 or visit www.klpac.org.

Text Zedeck Siew

Article taken from KLue Magazine February 2009, Issue 136.