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Typhoon 3 - The gales of change gusting through British theatre.

Taking a slight detour from normal proceedings I recently attended a seminar on behalf of Chinatown magazine. The topic of discussion had loose connections to this column so I have included my write up of it here for your consumption. Where are the British Chinese and East Asian writers and actors?! Ever wondered how the dialogue between British theatre and East Asian dramatists could be improved?

Well this has a direct link to the visibility (or invisibility) of Chinese and East Asian actors seen on stage, television and film in Britain.

A recent seminar hosted by Yellow Earth Theatre, the premier theatre company for British Chinese and East Asians, addressed this very question at the end of it’s annual Typhoon 3 event.

What is Yellow Earth Theatre?

Established in 1995, Yellow Earth Theatre pioneers British East Asian theatre in the UK.

It is a touring theatre company producing text-based physical performance integrating theatre skills from the East and West and is headed up by Artistic Director David K.S. Tse.

The company is funded by Arts Council England.

What is Typhoon 3? Typhoon 3 is Yellow Earth’s third annual International East Asian playreading festival supported by Soho Theatre. The event is held over a week and is designed to promote the best of contemporary East Asian drama. It showcases work from new and established writers in Britain as well as the East Asian region and the Asian American diaspora. The panelists were, David Tse of the Yellow Earth Theatre, Laura Gribble of the Royal National Theatre, Richard Shannon of the Polka Theatre and Nina Steiger of the Soho Theatre. The chairman was Phillippe Cherbonnier who is the Literary Manager of the Yellow Earth Theatre.

The panel declared they wanted a two-way discussion with the audience whilst also discussing multiculturalism in the theatre world and much needed outreach and development programs to reach the grass roots and wider mainstream audiences.

They would address two topics, the problems and any solutions.

Here follows my account of the seminar.

There was a consensus that there is a great deal of quality talent out there from the British Chinese and East Asian community and Yellow Earth Theatre and similar organizations should take charge in reaching out to those individuals and promoting them.

Laura Gribble pointed out that The Royal National Theatre is able to give advice to writers and help them develop. The issue of developing contacts is crucial and a joint approach is necessary to help bridge the gap between community organizations and national institutions. It was agreed that the grassroots (British Chinese and East Asian communities) must be approached and mobilized. Richard Shannon from the Polka Theatre went on to state that two things needed to be increased. Greater representation of multicultural work in British theatres and audience figures for those works. These works had to be accessible to, and ‘owned’ by, the community for them to feel involved and not patronized. Speaking to the audience directly through the strength of the writing and corresponding acting could do this.

New writer development must be more aggressively promoted and more solid groundwork and relationship building with the community must be pursued.

Direct marketing to the community and an in depth research as to what the grassroots wants to pay and see is also in order.

Nina Steiger of the Soho theatre added that there was a strong need to raise the profile of new writing and a way must be found to support writers and their subsequent development.

Ways to adequately serve the writer and their community are of paramount importance as are creating opportunities for all. David Tse of Yellow Earth Theatre and perhaps the present custodian of the grassroots experience pointed out briefly what his organization was doing to address the issues at hand. Yellow Earth gets British Chinese and East Asian acting and writing professionals to tour the country once a year. They feature festivals and workshops, which also involve talented young people often using the traditional East Asian style. Yellow Earth is also heavily involved in getting British born Chinese and East Asians, trained and educated in Britain to embrace their cultural heritage.

He continued to elaborate on some the problems facing East Asian dramatists in British theatre today.

The two main points to highlight were casting and staffing, both of which are affected to a degree by institutional racism in the British theatrical hierarchy as was stated in the Eclipse Report (June 2001) which was formulated to develop strategies to combat racism in theatre.

The report can be read in full here,

www.artscouncil.org.uk/documents/projects/1510.pdf

(In particular, see page 55 of the report to read David Tse’s powerful, personal account of the difficulties facing British East Asian dramatists today).

The report listed 21 clear recommendations for improving the current situation. This would involve action taken by the Arts Council, Regional Arts Boards, the Theatrical Management Association, the Society of London Theatre and the Independent Theatre Council. David Tse went on to state that British theatre have to include culturally diverse actors in the UK. Casting directors have a great responsibility to cast East Asian actors from the increasingly large talent pool.

Also, Artistic directors who tend to promote plays according to their own personal taste have a duty to put forward more diverse offerings to audiences.

Some plays could include bilingual scenes to help some British East Asian audiences identify with a production, i.e. a Filipino produced play could have some Tagalog language in there.

This appreciation of diversity, by showcasing the other languages that many East Asians speak due to their background culture, will bring further enjoyment of the piece.

This representation of diversity should also be represented comprehensively, throughout the administration staff.

Equal opportunities laws should be rigorously adhered to and affirmative action should be explored to kick start the creation of role models which are vital. British East Asian audiences, like any other, need to be able to identify with the actors on stage, to see people like them for accessible role models. He concluded by saying high quality British Chinese and East Asian actors should be promoted more visibly. So. On to solutions. A lively debate followed between the audience and panel.

One strategy for improving the dialogue between British Theatre and East Asian dramatists is to find ways of making East Asian drama more appealing to mainstream masses.

Regional accents of British East Asian actors, if present, should be cherished and promoted, not excluded.

Also, ways to get people from the British East Asian communities curious and interested in plays and theatre must be sought.

The profile of East Asian work should be raised and this could be achieved at the school level.

Unfortunately, the status of drama in the National Curriculum is very low as this could be a vehicle for promoting East Asian work from an early age.

The so-called ‘gate keepers’ in schools, the parents and teachers, also have a responsibility to request and promote diverse material in schools.

This leads to a need for greater participation by the community in finding ways of how to make theatre appear more appealing and important to the public. The grassroots must be engaged and mobilized for their support will see productions through lean times. It was noted that the translation of some International East Asian plays, from their original tongue to English, was not always of the highest quality, thus ruining the whole feel and message of the writer’s vision.

British East Asian actors are in despair as they are still seeing recent examples of Oriental roles given to white actors who ‘yellow up’ for the part.

Considering the wealth of talent of struggling young actors out there this is seen as a slap in the face.

The need for visible role models was a constant theme running throughout the seminar.

Theatrical institutions should outreach more to communities so as to appeal to people who have been educated in Britain but want to explore their cultural heritage.

The recommendations in the Eclipse report should be carried forward and tailored towards the British East Asian community.

There was a slight sense of anger and frustration among some of the young actors present in the audience and also a real desire for change. A desire that this seminar should be more than just another talking shop but a catalyst, leading to eventual breakthrough into the mainstream. With the ever growing stable of British East Asian writing and acting talent around, this will just be a matter of time. For more info on Yellow Earth Theatre go to www.yellowearth.org

David Tse recently helped to form Chinatown Arts Space which supports East Asian visual and supporting arts.

Among the audience members was Jason Chan, winner of the 2004 Norman Beaton Fellowship Award.

Jason Chan was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia of Chinese parents and came to England at the age of 4.

He was educated in West London and, in his late twenties, following a background in martial arts and Zen Buddhism, decided to train as an actor.

For 2 years he worked during the day and attended drama school classes in the evening and at weekends.

By doing this he showed that studying for the creative arts takes as much hard work, dedication and commitment as it does for the traditional, stable, high earning professions such as medicine, law and accounting which many British East Asian parents guide their children towards. Since leaving drama school in 2002 he has completed 2 TV commercials (including one for the Asian Wall St Journal), several stage plays, a TV comedy pilot and various roles in corporate training.

Again, showing skeptical parents, that making a good income from the acting profession is a reality.

An unexpected bonus of his acting career has been his rediscovery of Chinese culture through meeting so many gifted British East Asian actors, writers and directors.

Jason is soon to begin a 6 month contract with BBC Radio Drama in August 2004 and is especially looking forward to learning from all the experienced and talented people within the organization.

He also greatly enjoys working in group pieces where the actors can spark ideas off each other.

Check out www.jasonchan.co.uk for more information on this aspiring actor.

The Norman Beaton Fellowship Award scheme is now in it’s second year, Jason Chan explained.

It is aimed at actors and actresses from non-traditional training backgrounds and particularly to entrants from groups currently under-represented in Radio Drama.

Anyone aged 18 and over, keen to do radio acting, who has never attended an accredited drama school can apply. The winners are awarded a six-month contract within the BBC Radio Drama Company. Past members of the company include Stephen Tompkinson, Nina Wadia, Alex Jennings and Ben Onwukwe. More details can be found online at, http://www.bbc.co.uk/soundstart, as well as details about the late Norman Beaton, the Guyanese born actor for whom this award was named in honour. Also present was Veronica Needa, a founding member and Outreach and Education coordinator for Yellow Earth Theatre. She is also a cultural ambassador for the Arts Depot in North London (www.artsdepot.co.uk).

Veronica Needa was born and grew up in Hong Kong, fluent in Cantonese and English.

She is a professional theatre worker, trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and is a graduate of the School of Playback Theatre (N.Y., USA, 1995).

Now based in London, she travels internationally facilitating workshops, which develop spontaneity, creative expression, and deep listening through personal stories with the company Playback AME (www.playbackame.co.uk).

The wealth of talent on show at the Typhoon 3 event show that the future is bright for British Chinese and East Asian dramatists.

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