Oral sex is illegal in Singapore - unless that is, it is performed on stage and lasts just eight seconds. In this land Tung Chee-hwa so much wants Hong Kong to emulate, actors negotiate with the authorities over men kissing men on stage. On the forehead, apparently, is OK. On the lips? No way.
The fact that simulated oral sex is allowed at all may be a sign that the republic which spoon-feeds its citizens is attempting a sort of renaissance - 'don't call us dull, we have Boat Quay'.
They are soon to see their own Ivan Heng strutting about the stage dressed as a woman - another Lion City no-no. If it is all right for Manchester United's David Beckham, it is all right for Heng. But how will the authorities react? 'It never crossed my mind, I just wanted to tell the story,' says Heng, 36. 'I guess it depends how well I do it.' Heng takes his one-man/ woman show to Singapore in April, but appears in Hong Kong first, at the Fringe Club from tonight. Working with director Krishen Jit for the first time in 10 years, Heng plays the title role in Stella Kon's Emily Of Emerald Hill, an abandoned girl-child of Chinese descent who claws her way to the top of Singapore society. But there is a price to pay.
Heng plays Emily, the first time the role has been played by a man, from the ages of 10 to 75.
'I saw this play and I thought I'd love to play her; to sink my teeth into the role.
'The premise is that in a male society only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act. It's about subverting the submissive woman.
'To have it played by a man - and Krishen and I do not conceal that it is a man playing her - you see startling images of men and women being in the same space together. Sometimes you basically lift Emily's skirt and give her balls.' Heng's interest in theatre stems from Chinese opera. He did national service in the army, but flat feet consigned him to clerk jobs. Ironically, this gave him time in the evenings to take up a ballet scholarship.