IN today's parlance, "butch" is a word used to describe a woman with masculine characteristics - a woman like actress Deonn Yang. Tall and beefy, she is quite the opposite of the thin demure women favoured by Asian fashion, media and advertising.

When Yang talks about how she once queued for the women's toilet, only to be told by another woman that the queue was for "Girls Only", you sympathise. When she talks about distant cousins who address her as kor kor (brother) instead of cheh cheh (sister), you wish you were there to correct those kids.

Her candid confessions make her a compelling character in Tan Liting's play Pretty Butch. But it also makes you wish the other characters in the play similarly burdened by gender expectations were as strong as her.