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The race without a face

Published Tuesday 23 June 2009 at 12:30

Many thanks for Lalayn Baluch’s excellent article, British East Asian artists lambast “racist” UK theatre (June 11, page 2) bringing this important issue to light.

As a regular British theatregoer, I am constantly disappointed that I rarely see East Asian actors on our stages (with the exception of Yellow Earth Theatre) or on our screens. This is not the case with black or South Asian representation, which has become normalised in the UK through characters from those ethnicities regularly appearing on TV soap operas, etc.

The British East Asian communities (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai etc) make up the third largest minority in the UK and they work in every profession across the country. The first recorded Chinese person here was Shen Fu Tsong in 1686, a celebrated scholar at the court of James II, whose portrait now hangs at Windsor Castle. It’s time this rich British history and “invisible” contemporary community was better reflected in our diverse cultural life.

In 1999, the Macpherson Report coined the phrase “institutional racism” to describe the police handling of the Stephen Lawrence case. In 2001, the Eclipse Conference admitted that British theatre suffered from the same problem, resulting in the launch of various arts council initiatives such as decibel and sustained theatre to try and level the playing field.

However, despite these efforts to encourage change, inappropriate “yellow face” casting continues unabated. Recently, the inappropriate casting and design of one production - ostensibly set in China - resulted in a fierce debate in a national newspaper: guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2009/may/24/theatre-more-light-feminism?commentpage=1

At the Finborough Theatre this month, a new play inspired by events in Cambodia has again missed a trick by not casting a single East Asian actor. In America, there is similar controversy over recent “race-bending” - the casting of white actors in what should be East Asian roles - on two new movies, The Last Airbender and Dragonball (see racebending.com)

Britain’s aspirations for London 2012 are to showcase “our unique internationalism, cultural diversity, sharing and understanding”. If the practice of “yellow face” casting continues and East Asian stories become “white-washed”, we will become the laughing stock of the world and give succour to the likes of the BNP and the far right across Europe.

The special relationship linking Britain and America is a shared Eurocentric education and culture. America has shown that it is possible to evolve with the election of Obama. It’s time that change percolated throughout the entertainment industry, both here and in America. Otherwise I - and many others like me - will have to ask ourselves whether we want to continue being the “new audience”, or stop subsidising the status quo by boycotting “old theatre and film”.

Gladys Ong

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