SINGAPORE (AFP) - Annabel Chong gained global notoriety in a very
un-Singaporean way -- she had sex 251 times with 70 men in the
American pornographic film, "The World's Greatest Gang Bang".
On Thursday, a play inspired by the Singapore-born porn star opens
in the conservative city-state, and in its own way edges the
country toward greater openess.
"I feel I am becoming quite an Annabel Chong myself because I am
finding the boundaries I can push, the envelopes I can't push,"
said the play's director, Loretta Chen.
The 90-minute play "251: Welcome to the Intimate Life of Annabel
Chong" poses the question: Should someone like Chong be regarded as
a hero?
The catalyst for the play was a local newspaper article that
discussed the definition of a national hero, Chen said.
"They said national heroes are people who dare to go the distance,
break boundaries and do what no man or woman has dared to do and
Annabel Chong has done just that," she said.
"And yet she is branded as a national shame... she's taboo because
her act was sexual."
Chong was the stage name of Grace Quek, who was born to
middle-class Christian parents who were teachers. She attended top
schools and was awarded a scholarship to read law in London.
But shortly after, she moved to Los Angeles to enrol in a gender
studies undergraduate programme and there, her porn career
began.
"Annabel Chong is a persona I created to express a certain part of
myself that so far has not been able to find an outlet," Quek told
AFP at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival that screened "Sex: The
Annabel Chong Story", a documentary about her.
"In some ways Annabel is a rebel. She is rebelling against her very
strict upbringing in Singapore," Quek, then aged 26, said.
"251" explores the turning points -- including a gang rape which
Quek said happened to her in London -- that led her to become
Annabel Chong, Chen said.
"I see her as a product of the Singaporean system," she said.
Singapore is Southeast Asia's most advanced economy and the
hard-driving society has left many people with little time for
sex.
Officials have said the country is not producing enough babies to
replenish the population. A survey by condom-maker Durex put
Singapore near the bottom on a world list of sexually active
nations.
Its politics remain tightly-controlled but Singapore has been
gradually easing the social restrictions that have given it a
strait-laced reputation.
Late last year the government said oral and anal sex in private
between consenting heterosexual adults would be legalised, although
"gross indecency" between two males remains a crime.
A cabinet minister said recently that the country is undergoing
liberalisation -- it only blocks 100 Internet porn sites -- while
retaining a very strong conservative core.
Chen said she was stunned when authorities approved "251", and
their action appears to show that times are changing.
A few years ago, the play would have been banned and not talked
about, she said.
Still, authorities had concerns and gave Chen a list of guidelines
to follow, she said. Full nudity and group sex could not be
depicted but a topless scene was allowed.
The play is rated for audiences above 18 years of age.
Annabel Chong's story is interspersed with social commentaries and
monologues, including a humorous scene in which the
citizen-government relationship is portrayed as "mainstream
porn".
A character, Mr Big, threatens to "tame" an actress while they are
simulating different sexual positions.
"In return I will have prosperity... I will have safety from crime,
hate... inter-racial strife," the actress says.
Another scene shows Annabel Chong speaking with a porn talent
scout.
"I want everyone to get a piece of my body, but nobody gets my
soul," she says.
The play, set to run until April 15, is sold out for the first
three days but Quek will not be in the audience.
Chen says Quek refused to meet the theatre group or attend the
premiere because "Annabel is dead".
Quek often returns to Singapore to visit her mother, and passed
along magazine articles and tapes of her media interviews to help
Chen in her research, the director said.
But Quek has killed off her Annabel Chong alter ego and is working
as an IT consultant in the United States, says a notice on her
defunct Website.
Cynthia Lee MacQuarrie, who stars as Chong, said she visited an
online forum where people asked: "Why are they bringing her back?
She's not worth remembering."
Chen hopes "251" can challenge those attitudes.
"I am hoping too that people will actually see her in a more humane
light," she said.
Media
Source
The pirated DVD version will be available next week. I
can't wait to check it out!! BTW who has seen her master piece "The
World's Biggest Gang Bang"?
FYI In hardcore pornography, Annabel Chong pioneered the on-camera
TRIPLE PENETRATION.