Cover Nathania Ong as Éponine in Les Misérables on the West End, the first Singaporean actress to do so (Photo: Danny Kaan)
Nathania Ong as Éponine in Les Misérables on the West End, the first Singaporean actress to do so (Photo: Danny Kaan)
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Before she returns to Singapore to play Cinderella in Pangdemonium’s staging of ‘Into the Woods’, Nathania Ong shares notes on being the first Singaporean to play Éponine in ‘Les Misérables’ on the West End, the London theatre scene, and taking rejection in her stride
Give Nathania Ong two minutes and she can brighten the room with her infectious energy—even if you are only seeing her on a laptop screen. It is 11 o’clock on a Friday morning for the 25‑year‑old actress in London, from where she joins in the video call for this interview, and she begins gushing about the gorgeous sunny weather the English capital has been experiencing.
Since we do not get to see the view outside her window, we take her word for it. She carries the same exuberance and enthusiasm throughout the interview, but what is surprising is that she asks us to share our thoughts at every juncture. This invitation for exchange is probably the reason for her outstanding performance as Éponine in the iconic musical Les Misérables. For Ong, who is the first Singaporean to play the role on the West End stage, the relationship between the actor and the audience is reciprocal, like a conversation or a “game of tennis”.
“What makes [acting] really interesting is that magical moment when the audience is leaning in to listen to you,” she says. It is hard not to get swept up in the force of her magnetic field—and we have not even seen her perform yet.
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Above Nathania Ong as Éponine in Les Misérables on the West End, the first Singaporean actress to do so (Photo: Johan Persson)
Nathania Ong as Éponine in Les Misérables on the West End, the first Singaporean actress to do so (Photo: Johan Persson)
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For six days a week, Ong makes her way to London’s theatre belt to play one of the most beloved characters in Les Misérables. In tattered rags, she delivers one of the most emotional numbers in the musical, On My Own, lamenting her unrequited love for her friend Marius, a student revolutionary. Romantic as Éponine’s character arc may be, Ong never lets that overshadow the tragic reality of her circumstances—a destitute street rat, used as a pawn by her unscrupulous parents, and only 16 when she becomes the first casualty of the musical’s depiction of the Paris Uprising of 1832. Just like the dirt all over Éponine’s body, Ong unearths the grit that so characterises Victor Hugo’s mammoth source text, which she pages through frequently to find new accents around the character.
“I don’t think that she’s my character,” Ong says of making Éponine her own. But having previously played the role in the UK and Ireland tour prior to the West End run, she challenges herself to make each performance different from the last. The magic of theatre is, after all, predicated on its ephemeral nature, and that means that “there’s a lot of play to be found”. Ong brings a little bit of what she feels every day to the stage, making each performance alive and dynamic for the audience.
For the young actress, good acting is defined by honesty. “If you can mean what you’re saying, you’ve done your job,” she says. And especially for Éponine’s star‑making solo, which she performed at The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals this February, Ong challenges herself to find “the colours” and “the layers” in each of the lines. Has it been successful? Watch any video of her singing on YouTube and you will find the same praises in as many variations: “moved to tears”, “not a dry eye in the audience”, “amazing”, “phenomenal” and “electric”.
It is hard to imagine that the actress blazing her own trail is the same one who showed up to an audition in a T‑shirt and leggings while everyone else was in leotards. Ong’s journey to London has not been easy. Having been rejected by all the drama schools she applied to right out of junior college, she enrolled in Singapore’s Lasalle College of the Arts before transferring to Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Each application was costly and Ong found herself working three part‑time jobs to augment her family’s income while auditioning for Mountview.
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Above Lulu-Mae Pears as Cosette and Robert Tripolino as Marius, with Nathania Ong as Éponine in the background (Photo: Johan Persson)
Lulu-Mae Pears as Cosette and Robert Tripolino as Marius, with Nathania Ong as Éponine in the background (Photo: Johan Persson)
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Far from being discouraged, however, she developed a thick skin to rejection and hardship. The fact is that the stereotype of the struggling actor is an unfortunate reality and the only way to keep working is to get used to rejection. “As performers, you almost want to experience those rejections to get better equipped to deal with the next one,” she says. Intertwined with this determination is the need to take risks. “If you don’t take a chance, you’ll never know. If they say no, they say no, but at least you tried.”
But as much as Ong has found commercial success on the West End, she is quick to credit a significant part of her success to “the kindness shown by the people who believe in me”. One of her earliest supporters, for instance, is her father, a dentist and former singer who taught her how to “not just sing the song, but craft the song”—the same way she combs her songs now for meaning and emotion.
This month, Ong returns home to Singapore to take on the role of Cinderella in Into the Woods, which will be staged by home-grown theatre company Pangdemonium. She is ecstatic to be performing on home soil, where she will also be singing at a solo charity concert, the details of which are not available at the time of print. “Singapore has supported my growth as an artist,” she says. “I’d love to talk about my journey a little bit more through song, and cycle through the years to see my growth as a performer in a linear sense.”
And how much she has grown. Ong returns to the Singapore stage with a wealth of experience despite her young age. While she does not mince her words about being an artist in one of the most competitive industries out there, she revels in the rejuvenating qualities of her art. With that, her parting note is simple: “There are definitely going to be periods of life where people won’t believe in you. To anyone reading this, I just want to say, believe in yourself.”
About
Ethan is a dining writer with Tatler Singapore. Trained in literary arts and filmmaking, their work has previously been published in Esquire Singapore, Men's Folio, and with the Asian Film Archive and the Singapore International and Film Festival, across a wide range of interests from gastronomy to fashion and arts criticism.
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Ethan writes about exciting news in the F&B industry, specialising in fine dining, exclusive spirits launches, and new restaurants. They are always looking for riveting voices to bring something fresh to an already-dynamic industry.
Follow them on Instagram at @faustiangourmand.
