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INTRODUCTION

This volume brings together contemporary plays from British East Asians: a diverse and creatively vibrant group whose growing presence is making its mark on British cultural life. This community of practice has long participated in British theatre but has been under-represented in nearly all areas of the profession. However, after years on the fringes, BEAs are now taking ownership of the ways they are represented in British theatre. In the process they are advancing their presence and visibility with increased dynamism. In collecting this volume of material, we bring together a group of writers who reflect the range of work being produced by BEAs and their manifold creative approaches. It forcefully demonstrates that there is a wealth of BEA playwriting in this country and challenges any assumption that erasure from British theatre stemmed from a lack of BEA creativity, talent, or interest in writing for the stage.

What, then, is British East Asian? The descriptor ‘British East Asian’ has been widely adopted by practitioners as an umbrella term that holds together a diverse and complex range of experiences. Many of these assert a belonging to contemporary British life, contributing to narratives of British multiculturalism. However, the ethnic heritages of BEAs also move beyond Britain to encompass geographies in East Asia (China and associated territories, Korea and Japan), South East Asia (e.g. Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam), and across the globe (including the Caribbean, West and South Africa, and other parts of Western Europe). Some BEA practitioners are mixed-race, and identify with Black, South Asian, or Malay racial backgrounds, rather than those of East Asian descent (e.g. Chinese, Japanese or Korean). Although many BEA theatre makers were born and grew up in Britain, some migrated here when younger, whilst others may be living and working here in the medium to long term. Indeed, some practitioners, including those within this volume, have international profiles that allow them to produce and create work that speaks to multiple locations of culture, identity and belonging.

As a term, ‘BEA’ has facilitated greater cultural visibility for theatre makers of East and South East Asian descent in the wider landscape of British theatre. This is because it has brought together diverse experiences in a way that enables identification and inclusion into wider debates about Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) representation. In the late 1970s and 1980s, all BAME groups in Britain were placed together under the single analytical category of ‘Black’ as a marker of multicultural difference from a supposedly ‘White’ universal norm. Indeed, the 1989 collection The Colour Black: Black images in British television, included a discussion of the landmark British Chinese television series, The Chinese Detective. As discourses of multiculturalism evolved and an understanding of Britain’s racial-ethnic communities grew, a differentiation became necessary between Black British and British Asian experiences, arts and cultural formations. However, as a direct legacy of the British Empire, British Asian refers solely to those from, or with ancestral connections to, the Indian subcontinent. It excluded those from East and South East Asia, who historically were labelled as ‘Oriental’ or placed under the broader racial category of ‘Chinese’. Those from, or who can claim, East and South East Asian descent have rejected the terms ‘Oriental’ or ‘Far East’ owing to their colonial and exotic associations. Indeed, the persistence of imaginary notions linked to Britain’s colonial past in East and South East Asia has led to depictions of BEAs as irrevocably ‘different’ and constantly ‘foreign’, which has sustained stereotypes such as the ‘sly wily Chinese’, the sexually charged ‘lotus flower woman’, the ‘heathen Chinee’ and the criminal mastermind Fu Manchu invented by the British author Sax Rohmer in 1913. The writers here implicitly or explicitly challenge these depictions, offering a more nuanced account of BEA experiences and identities. In so doing, they challenge two-dimensional stereotypes and claim representational territory for themselves.

BEA theatre has a long history. Chinese plays first appeared on the British stage as early as 1759, when Arthur Murphy’s The Orphan of China was performed at Drury Lane starring David Garrick. The play was an adaptation of Voltaire’s 1755 play L’Orphéline de la Chine, itself based upon a French translation of the thirteenth century Chinese classic The Orphan of Zhao (Zhaoshi Gu’er) published in 1735. Whilst this production brought East Asian literature to the British stage – albeit in a highly adapted form – it also introduced the possibility of the European depiction of China without involving practitioners of East Asian descent, a trope that was sustained into the early twenty-first century, and is only now being dismantled. Yet the narrative is not wholly one of exclusion. By the early twentieth century, Asian American, Asian Australian and BEA practitioners were beginning to assert limited ownership over stage representations of East Asia. Anna May Wong and Rose Quong appeared opposite a young Lawrence Olivier in The Circle of Chalk (1929) – an adaptation of the Chinese classical play Huilanji, which was also adapted by Bertolt Brecht into The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Der kaukasische Kreidekreis) in 1944. More significant was Hsiung Shih-yi’s Lady Precious Stream (1934), a spoken drama adaptation of a Chinese opera and the first West End play written and co-directed by a Chinese practitioner. Although the play can be critiqued for its deployment of cultural stereotypes that pander to British ideas of exoticism, it did give its author a degree of visibility in British society at a time when London and Liverpool Chinatowns were in decline, and anti-Chinese xenophobia was rampant. The commercial success of the play, and its print circulation into the 1960s as a play for young people, makes it the most successful BEA play to date.

In the contemporary period, the first BEA theatre company was the award-winning Mu-Lan founded in 1988. The company pioneered original new work that directly challenged stereotypical depictions of British Chinese, such as Chay Yew’s Porcelain (1992) which was a sell-out success at the Royal Court, and Anna Chen’s solo show Suzy Wrong Human Cannon (1995). The company also led the development of work with mixed-race BEA lead characters, most notably Matt Wilkinson’s Sun is Shining (2002). However, despite the high calibre of its artistic work, funding decisions made by Arts Council England in 2002 forced the company to close in 2004. Other companies operating during this period include Tripitaka Theatre Company (1993–1998) which created productions offering an Asian point of view to both UK and global audiences, notably Ivan Heng’s autobiographical show Journey West (1995), as well as Chowee Leow’s solo show (co-authored with Heng) called An Occasional Orchid (1996), which challenged exotic stereotypes by exploring the intersections between race, gender and sexuality. In addition, True Heart Theatre, established in 2006, assisted with the development of some BEA plays, including In the Mirror (2011), which featured Lucy Chau Lai-Tuen’s There Are Two Perfectly Good Me(s): One Dead, the Other Unborn, Anna Chen’s Anna May Wong Must Die!, and a full production of Veronica Needa’s Face, the latter having been developed in both Hong Kong and the UK. Another BEA theatre company established during these years was Yellow Earth Theatre, seeded in 1993 and formally founded in 1995. The company has explored various Asian movement and performance aesthetics (from Kung Fu to Beijing Opera) such as in Philippe Cherbonnier’s adaptation of Rashomon (2001) and Paul Sirett’s Running the Silk Road (2008), as well as developing works addressing a range of issues such as criminal gangs (David Tse’s Play to Win, 2000), migration histories and inter-generational family relationships (Sung Rno’s wAve, 2009, and In-Sook Chappell’s Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok, 2018) as well as producing Shakespearean plays and adaptations (Lear’s Daughters, 2003, and King Lear, 2006). In 2011, Yellow Earth Theatre lost its revenue funding from Arts Council England after a change of leadership and a loss of creative direction, funding that has subsequently been reinstated for the period 2018–2022. In the interim, a number of BEA companies have emerged that focus on developing and producing new plays, for example, Moongate Productions (who have produced Daniel York Loh’s The Fu Manchu Complex (2013) and Forgotten (2018) – which is a co-production with Yellow Earth Theatre) Papergang Theatre (who co-produced Francis Turnly’s Harajuku Girls with Nicholas Goh, China Doll Productions and The Finborough Theatre in 2015), and Trikhon Theatre (who produced Anna Nguyen’s A Dream from a Bombshell (2014) and Nguyen and Mingyu Lin’s piece Rice Paper Tales (2016) which was inspired by the storyteller Tiet Van Nguyen). Despite having lost its revenue funding, Amy Ng’s Shangri-La at the Finborough Theatre in 2016 was also produced in association with Yellow Earth Theatre.

A major shift in participation for BEAs has recently been initiated through a string of protests about Yellowface, the practice whereby White actors perform as East Asian (specifically Chinese). Of particular importance here was the international protest against The Royal Shakespeare Company’s adaptation of the Chinese classic The Orphan of Zhao in 2012–2013. Cast with only three BEA actors, all of whom played minor and/or stereotypical roles, the production embodied the exclusion of BEA practitioners (including writers) from British theatre. The use of White actors to perform East Asian characters highlighted the unequal playing field in which BEA practitioners participated and their exclusion from employment opportunities across the theatre profession. The protest was led by the advocacy group British East Asian Artists who continue to raise the visibility of BEA practitioners, and who have increased awareness of the creative needs of this community of practice. The impact of the RSC protest has been undeniably significant for BEA theatre-makers and has successfully led to major theatre institutions providing training, development and employment opportunities for BEA practitioners.

For writers, this has meant a greater degree of participation in the wider landscape of British theatre. Key here was the Royal Court’s Unheard Voices programme, which aims to cultivate and highlight previously hidden writing talent. The programme has sought out writers from a wide variety of groups, including Muslims, Somalis and Romani, and in one of its rotations, the programme included writers from East and South East Asian backgrounds. From this, Tuyen Do, Amber Hsu, Daniel York Loh, Clare Mason and Francis Turnly were then invited into the Royal Court’s racially non-specific, and prestigious, Studio Group for further development. In 2015, the Royal Court also commissioned BEA writers to create short plays with British East Asian experiences at the centre of their stories for Live Lunch: Hidden, which featured work by Lucy Chau Lai-Tuen, Daniel York Loh, Kathryn Golding and Amber Hsu, as well as two White writers, Vivienne Franzmann and Chris Thompson. A number of BEA writers have been members of other Royal Court writing groups (such as the Young Writers’ Programme or the Critical Mass Writers’ Programme), including Rebecca Boey, Ming Ho, Amy Ng and Jingan Young, but BEA playwrights have also been selected for writing groups elsewhere such as The Orange Tree Writers Collective and SoHo Theatre’s Young Company Writers’ Lab. These schemes have been vitally important in raising the profile and abilities of BEA writers, and in allowing BEA writers to fully explore, embrace and express their own stories, adding further nuance to our understanding of what it means to be British and to the politics of contemporary multiculturalism.

Indeed, BEA playwrights can now be found working across both racially specific and non-racially specific spheres of practice in increasing numbers, often making BEA experiences and/or characters visible to wide-ranging audiences. For example, In-Sook Chappell won the Verity Bargate Award for This Isn’t Romance (2009), which was then adapted for BBC Radio 3 and then turned into a screenplay for Film Four. Her plays Tales of the Harrow Road (2010), Absence (2016) and P’yongyang (2016) have all been produced, and she is currently under commission to the National Theatre Connections programme. Amber Hsu has adapted Tales of Ovid (2017) for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and was commissioned for The Big Idea (Hangman) at The Royal Court Theatre (2015), Amy Ng is under commission to the Royal Shakespeare Company and Belgrade Theatre Coventry, whilst Francis Turnly has also been Playwright-in-Residence at The Tricycle Theatre. There are historical antecedents to such writers, such as Simon Wu (Pilgrimage of the Heart, 2008) and Benjamin Yeoh, whose stage plays Lemon Love (2001), Lost in Peru (2003) and Yellow Gentlemen (2006) were produced by The Finborough Theatre, Camden People’s Theatre and Ovalhouse Theatre respectively. However, in the contemporary moment it is evident that there is a dynamism, presence and reach among BEA writers that has not previously been experienced, and this is also reflected in the increased interest in producing their work.

In addition to the production of plays and the staging of play-readings at established venues for new writing like the Finborough Theatre, as this collection goes to print there are at least three plays by BEA playwrights on Britain’s stages, namely In-Sook Chappell’s Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok playing in a sold out run at Manchester Royal Exchange before touring nationally as part of Black Theatre Live, Amy Ng’s college drama Acceptance has received a hard-hitting production in the Hampstead Theatre Studio while Francis Turnly’s epic The Great Wave, which explores North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens, is being co-produced by The Tricycle and the National Theatre in the 450 seater NT Dorfman Theatre on London’s South Bank. These productions represent significant, positive, progress in BEA participation in British theatre.

What, therefore, is a BEA play? This collection, quite simply, comprises contemporary plays by BEA writers. This is with the awareness that non-BEA writers have successfully produced plays with BEA leads (for example, Philippe Cherbonnier, Anders Lustgarten and Matt Wilkinson), and that BEA writers are from highly varied backgrounds. Some playwrights choose to engage with specific BEA experiences or stories that may also speak to broader universal themes, whilst others choose to make no explicit reference to BEA issues in their work. The plays included in this volume address, or are informed by, questions of racial and ethnic identity but they also open up the multiplicity of that experience and its intersection with other dimensions of identity such as gender and sexuality.

Nearly all of the contemporary plays selected have been produced, whereas some, such as Stephen Hoo’s Jamaica Boy and Lucy Chau Lai-Tuen’s Conversations With My Unknown Mother are ‘production ready’ and have received development work from theatres such as Theatre Royal Stratford East. They collectively explore ideas of memory, nostalgia, community, identity and identity politics that resonate with contemporary BEA experiences – and beyond. They also provide a range of characters, of all ages and persuasions, which challenge the stereotypical representation of BEA people that persists in the media.

The Plays

Bound Feet Blues – A Life Told in Shoes by Yang-May Ooi uses the practice of foot-binding (experienced by her Chinese great-grandmother) as a way to explore female sexuality and empowerment across three generations of her family. The piece traces the tensions experienced by women in both ‘East’ and ‘West’ between conformity and tradition, between desire and being desired. It highlights how physical and psychological restrictions have been placed on women in the service of male heterosexual desire and patriarchy, but the play loosens these restrictive bindings to positively reconcile the past and the future.

Themes of nostalgia and memory are picked up in Jeremy Tiang’s The Last Days of Limehouse. The play documents the end of London’s first Chinatown, detailing the attempts of a ‘Eurasian-American’ woman, Eileen, seeking to preserve the gritty reality of the London Chinatown before it is bulldozed by developers. However, in her attempts to stir up a protest against the area’s demolition, she encounters resistance from local British Chinese communities, who want different opportunities, experiences and all mod cons. The play opens up questions of heritage and loss, what is deemed culturally valuable (and by whom), and highlights the complex dynamics of nationality in relation to BEA experiences.

Jamaica Boy by Stephen Hoo similarly exposes the varied migratory histories of the Chinese diaspora, only this time through the less recognised route of the Caribbean. The play centres on the relationship between a young British Chinese offender and the Afro-Caribbean woman, Ophelia, he helps as part of his Community Service order. As the story unfolds and their relationship develops, we see the inter-racial tensions between black and Chinese communities, specifically in terms of hyper-masculinity, male pride, and heterosexuality. The play questions what it is to seek love across racial and sexual norms, and how new forms of communication might overcome isolation bred by division.

Under-represented stories of migration and the wider challenges of divided relationships are also explored in Special Occasions, this time through the relationship of Nina to her Viennese Jewish mother. The play presents snapshots of an awkward relationship during special occasions marked by the purchase of a Sachertorte. Nina’s mother makes over-bearing demands on her daughter, yet we are left questioning whether she was right all along. A bullish parent who wants to do the best for her child, and the need for children to rebel and find their own way, are hardly themes specific to BEAs, and this is a strength of the play. Yet, there is the suggestion that the mother was part of the Jewish presence in Shanghai (it is not stated whether she was based in the Shanghai Ghetto during World War II, but the mother’s anti-Japanese sentiment hints that she might have been), enabling the exploration of the themes of survival, matriarchy and the wisdom of age to be explored alongside the Confucian expectation that children obey their parents.

Similarly, Conversations With My Unknown Mother explores the relationship between mother and daughter, but this time through abandonment, dislocation and loss. The central character, Michelle, was born in Hong Kong, but abandoned by her mother who had run out of hope. Raised in Britain by adoptive parents, Michelle confronts her feelings towards her recently deceased adoptive mother (Mary) and the ghost of her real mother (Fei Yen). The play is unique for taking the experiences of Hong Kong adoptees, whose history is largely unknown, as its starting point, but it explores the wider universal themes of relationships between mothers and their daughters, and the nature of family bonds. Whilst there is a bleak undercurrent to the play, it proffers a message of hope and reconciliation, to live life to the best of one’s abilities and accept who we are, and just as importantly, who we are not.

Acceptance is also at the heart of Tango, where the central family unit in the play consists of two men and their son. Set in Singapore, where homosexuality and LGBTQQ adoption remain illegal, the play narrates what happens when the family are discriminated against and refused service in a restaurant on the basis of their sexuality. The ensuing fracas is captured on video and posted online, sparking intense viral debate, and later street protests. Politically, the play is a direct challenge to Singaporean law (specifically sections 377A, 354 and 294A) that prohibit ‘outrages on decency’, ‘outrages on modesty’ and ‘obscene acts’. The play asks where are the outrages on decency, and who commits obscene acts, when there is open discrimination? For the characters, this question causes a tussle between British and Singaporean identity, between experiencing racial discrimination in Britain and sexual discrimination in Singapore. The ambiguous ending of the play suggests that only through open and honest dialogue, and by listening to the concerns of the other side, might these issues be resolved.

The final play in the volume also represents a political challenge, this time, to representations of BEAs in British culture. The Fu Manchu Complex is a satirical comedy that ridicules any colonial longing for Victorian Empire, and the imagined security of race, gender and sexuality the period supposedly invokes amongst White Britons. The play is written for actors in Whiteface – East Asian actors presenting themselves as Caucasians, thereby subverting the Yellowface tradition that has been endemic to British theatre for the last 250 years. It also addresses Sinophobia, the fear of China taking over the world, which was endemic to Sax Rohmer’s early twentieth century Fu Manchu novels, but also finds expression in the present as China commands greater influence economically and politically. A singular and direct challenge to British theatrical representations of China, and of wider xenophobia, the play offers a robust articulation and rebuttal of the discrimination that BEAs have faced.

As a selection of the many contemporary plays that are now being produced, we hope that this collection challenges dominant narratives about BEAs, and encourages a greater recognition of the diverse experiences, agendas and aesthetics of the voices that exist in this theatrical community.

Amanda Rogers

Associate Professor in Human Geography and the Geohumanities

Swansea University

Ashley Thorpe

Senior Lecturer in Theatre

Royal Holloway, University of London.

BOUND FEET BLUES – A LIFE TOLD IN SHOES

Bound Feet Blues – A Life Told in Shoes began as an idea for a book ten years ago. I wanted to re-tell the oral stories passed down by the generations of women in my family. However, the stories only came to life when I tried them out loud live in front of an audience, leading me to develop the script as a storytelling piece. Working with director Jessica Higgs, we created a full theatrical performance from it while retaining the feel of traditional storytelling. Wearing a simple black costume and with a minimalist set, both inspired by East / West elements, I created the range of characters and locations without costume changes, set embellishments or props.

The play was performed barefoot. For a piece about shoes to feature no actual shoes emphasised their power as a metaphor – and bare feet underscored the brutality of footbinding. My left hand stood in for a foot in the footbinding sequences, transforming into a twisted mutilated shape before the audience’s horrified eyes.

A Malaysian accent was used for the childhood scenes, evoking my Malaysian childhood and the voice of my mother. The rest of the play was performed in RP English.

The first full production of the play was performed at the Tristan Bates Theatre, London in November / December 2015 for a three week run as part of the South East Asian Arts Festival, following development at the Centre for Solo Performance and a showcase performance in 2014. It was performed by me, Yang-May Ooi, directed by Jessica Higgs and produced by Eldarin Yeong Studio. The production was supported by Arts Council England, The Housing Finance Corporation and Maclay Murray Spens.

More information, including a video of the complete one hour play, can be found at www.BoundFeetBlues.co.uk.

Yang-May Ooi is a multimedia author of Chinese-Malaysian heritage. Her creative works include novels The Flame Tree and Mindgame, live storytelling performances and online multimedia projects. Bound Feet Blues – A Life Told in Shoes is her first theatre piece. She lives in London with her partner.

www.TigerSpirit.co.uk

BOUND FEET BLUES – A LIFE TOLD IN SHOES

YANG-MAY OOI

Final performance version as developed in rehearsal with Jessica Higgs.

01 – CHINA DOLL

It’s a beautiful summer evening in Oxford in 1983. I’m twenty and I’m walking arm in arm with Josh. He’s tall and tanned and looks gorgeous in his dinner jacket. We’re going to a ball and there’s a gang of us strolling up the High Street – the young men in black tie and us girls in our beautiful ball dresses.

I’m wearing a blood red cheongsam – that’s Chinese for long dress. It’s that traditional dress with a high collar and buttons down the side. It was made for me by our family tailor in Malaysia to fit my every curve all the way down to the ground. There are slits up either side, stopping just short of obscene high on my upper thighs.

I’m wearing silk stockings and lacy suspenders. As I walk, the dress moves and there – can you see it? – a hint of that delicate strap, high up on my thigh.

I’m wearing a pair of Kurt Geiger stilettoes – black patent leather with three inch heels.

There’s a shiny black triangle at their tip, where my toes are. There’s a thin leather strap that runs up the middle of my foot like a thong to meet another strap that goes around my ankle like a bondage collar. The shape of the shoe makes my foot arch back like a woman in ecstasy.

And I swish along. The stilettoes make me walk in a delicate, swaying manner and I’m taking tiny baby steps. I feel a class above the other girls in their flouncy ball dresses, walking arm in arm with their young men.

Because the men – they are all looking at me.

02 – HELPLESS

And every step is an agony. All my weight is on the balls of my feet and my toes are jammed into the tips of the shoes – crushed up against each other, overlapping, crooked.

The arches of my feet feel contorted. And every time the sharp piercing heel slams down on to the pavement, my ankles wobble, threaten to snap over.

Josh has swagger in his walk; he loves having his China doll on his arm. He’s picking up the pace, with his long masculine stride. I’m tottering along beside him with my tiny baby steps.

I say, Josh, please, slow down. And he does, but absently, not really understanding why I need him to slow down. Soon, he’s picking up the pace again. And I struggle along beside him.

I look up at the High Street stretching out ahead of me. There’s such a long, long way to go. How many tiny painful steps is it going to take to walk that long, long way to the ball? I envy Josh his strong sturdy shoes, his long manly stride, that sense that he owns the world.

Whereas my world is so tiny, shrunken to the next painful little step.

03 – SOME ENCHANTED EVENING

I’m eight years