Invitation to Treat: The Eleanor Wong Trilogy

by Eleanor Wong

Apart from capturing zeitgeist more than the average playwright in Singapore, the works of Eleanor Wong represent a distillation of the hallmarks of dramatists both antecedent to and contemporaneous with her. She is that versatile auteur who partakes of the best features of Singapore’s young but recognisable dramatic tradition. She excels with her fine ear for registering pitch and voice and wisely confines her characters and their liaisons to a milieu with which she is familiar. Still, to label her trilogy as lesbian plays is to be reductive. These plays succeed primarily because they are textured, weaving ruminations on personal identity, love and friendship, family and kinship, religious faith, the inextricable connection between the personal and political, the dialectics of centre and margin.-Dr. K.K. Seet

Genres: Plays

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Navya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Invitation to Treat is a trilogy of three plays, focused on three different points in the life of the same character - an upper/middle class lesbian lawyer in Singapore.

The plays are good, the characters believable and well-written, and the stories engaging. But I will specifically remember, and love, this collection for how close to heart it felt for me.

[Gwyneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breaks my heart every time I read it.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

These plays pulled my heart from me, slowly and sweetly.

[shry · Rating 5 out of 5]

All three plays really broke my heart.

[Melvyn Foo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t care that these stories are about lesbians. I don’t care if it has a gay agenda. I don’t care that it mocks church-goers. I don’t care that people will say I’m fanboying about my prof (who even without her writing, has much to be fanboyed about).

This is bloody good art and people should read it.

I wish I could watch it.

Wit is in abundance in all its various types - caustic, bitter, intellectual, lyrical. But this much is expected of lawyers. We'd be little without wit. What truly shines are the characters.

El's characters are deeply human. Their motivations are complex and their desires are conflicted; so much so that I found myself reminiscing of OSC's characters while reading these plays.

This was an oasis amidst law exam mugging.

[Hao Guang Tse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A trilogy that starts wonderfully and ends admirably but sadly sags in the middle. Wong's portrayal of upper-middle class lesbian life is taut and awash in law and theatre references. Her characters are sometimes over the top but never unbelievable.