The protest I was involved in made the front page of The Stage this week. This is fantastic news and congratulations to everyone involved/everyone quoted here. If any theatre casts white people in East Asian roles again, they have to know that this will happen, that there are consequences. Some huge steps forward are being … More Protest Front Page, Centre Stage
Last night in London, I protested at the Print Room with British East Asian theatre professionals, their friends, and their allies from the wider theatre industry. This is the first time that British East Asians have actually staged a physical protest against a theatre (unlike the US, there was no equivalent Miss Saigon protest back … More Yellowface Protest at the Print Room
Before Christmas, in response to the Print Room controversy over the casting of Howard Barker’s latest play, I mentioned that I would make my publications on yellowface (on the RSC’s The Orphan of Zhao) open access. It took a bit longer than I expected but ta-da! These are the accepted versions (so they are PDFs, not … More Yellowface publications (open access)
Two years ago as part of British East Asian Artists, I was involved in a protest against the casting of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Orphan of Zhao (see blog entries here and here and here). Ashley Thorpe (Royal Holloway) and myself have spent the last year or so putting together a Special Issue of … More The Orphan of Zhao Controversy Special Issue
In response to a letter written by the BBC to an East Asian student asking why there was such a lack of representation of BEAs on our screens, BEAA has released the following press release and open letter this morning. You can read the original letter from the BBC here, and Anna Chen’s FAQ U … More British East Asian Artists Press Release
Well, it’s been a while since my last post, largely because term just overtook me as it is wont to do. But to follow on from my previous post, courtesy of the Asian Performing Arts Forum, we held a public roundtable on The Orphan of Zhao. We invited the RSC, the academic advisor to the … More Orphan of Zhao update and roundtable
Well, I have been meaning to post about casting again and explain why it is so central to my research as a cultural geographer. But events have overtaken me, largely because rather than reflecting and analysing on casting practices for the purposes of academic debate, for the last two weeks I have been heavily involved … More The Orphan of Zhao: Inequality, Interculturalism and National Abjection in Casting
Seeing as I am new to Swansea University I had to complete the obligatory online training for Equality. My research seems to follow me everywhere. The only time you are allowed to discriminate when it comes to employment is in Genuine Occupational Requirements. Which includes casting….. this is taken direct from the Swansea University training … More Casting Part 2: Equality Training?!
I am a bit pre-occupied with casting practices at the moment. To be fair, I am always pre-occupied with casting practices and I think it’ll form the basis of my first few posts, largely because it is the moment in theatre-making when inequality gets writ large and the political economy underpinning theatre shines through. Well, … More Casting: Part 1
Theatrical Geographies 