The Golden Dragon

Not sure why you've put "heckling" in inverted commas, given that the director is clearly happy to engage in debate with you here. And I think you've missed the point entirely David. While your professional frustrations are understandable, I think it unfair to pick on this production as an example of what is wrong in the industry for people of BEA origin. This production is not turning its nose up at BEA actors, it is cast in a way which reflects the way the play is written and the message the director wants to put across.

I've seen the show, which I assumed in my first post would be "gd". Quality was never going to be an issue. The heart of this debate is equal opportunities. Gray raises a red herring about realism/naturalism vs imagination/empathy. Of course actors can play anything and theatre can be any form. Unfortunately, casting opportunities for British East Asian (BEA) actors are rare - see how culturally "invisible" this community is on your TV’s. That used to be the same for British African, Caribbean and South Asian actors - including the dreadful practice of "blacking/browning" up by white actors - until those communities took a stand and said, "Enough, this has to stop, it's a matter of respect". That civil rights movement culminated in the introduction of the Race Relations Act 1976, banning both direct and indirect discrimination. It's now time for the UK's 3rd largest ethnic minority, the BEA community, to take a stand against similar discrimination: http://www.gopetition.com/petition/38249.html What is "tired, clichéd and prejudiced" is the standard response of maintaining the status quo. While it's easy to preach liberalism: "embrace the other", it's harder to put that into practice, evidenced by the casting of this show. The German writer is examining the outsider/insider dynamic in this play. How much more complex that could be, transposed to the UK, where some members of British ethnic minorities identify with the mainstream and say, "No more immigrants". By casting in such a safe, 19th century way, Gray has avoided any complexities of modern Britain. Instead, he reinforces that his tribe is dominant, and anyone who questions that is "heckling" instead of asking for an adult debate about mutual respect. The writer has also made the error of following in the footsteps of the infamous Hollywood Hay's Code, killing the two main East Asian characters. Hollywood's first Chinese American film star, Anna May Wong, who fought this pernicious trend throughout her brave, illustrious career, joked that her epitaph should read, "She died a thousand deaths". The recent 100% funding cut for Yellow Earth (the UK's ONLY revenue-funded BEA touring theatre), while Caucasian-led ATC receives public subsidy - 1.6% coming from the BEA community – makes this discriminatory casting even more shameful. Passing the buck and blaming the writer is irresponsible. The UK is much more diverse than Germany, especially casting possibilities, and any director working in the subsidised sector owes a responsibility to the UK taxpayer to give value for money, follow the law and apply equal opportunities, especially towards a radically under-represented sector. Perhaps the challenge for you, Ramin, after this debacle, is to employ an all-BEA cast in an archetypal English setting? To have missed that opportunity with a play set "in a Chinese-Vietnamese-Thai restaurant", is offensive and the worst form of "chattering classes" theatre.

Have David and Gwei seen the show then? Or havent they? Prejudice is a dreadful old thing.

The casting of this production was one of the best things about it. It was precisely the distance between actor and character which illuminated the text's beautiful clarity, and to have done otherwise would have served only to confuse and patronise audiences and actors alike.

Alternatively, the author will be seeing the show at the Arcola this week and will be taking part in a post-show conversation with Graham Whybrow after the performance this Thursday Sept 15th. Come along and heckle: I think we should have the conversation.

Firstly, I'd encourage people - including David Tse - to see the show. Because once you see it you will realize that AT EVERY POINT the actors have to play characters that do not share their gender, ethnicity or age. Or, on occasion, their species. Secondly, what arises from this is that the white actors who yes, reflect the majority of the population of these isles, then go on journeys, imaginative journeys of empathy and identification with people (and insects) who are distant to them. And therein lies the lesson for us all: open up, imagine, embrace the other. The crude politics of representation are, I think, trumped by Schimmelpfennig's play. Is realism/naturalism the only way to make theatre? Does it always have to boil down to the same tired cliches about diversity and inclusion? Can't we have a more adult conversation about the world and where and how we are in it? And yes, David, I would have done the play exactly the same way had it had been about an Afro-Caribbean restaurant: the point isn't about where the characters are from, it's about the majority perspective from within which they are viewed. And that is what the play is anatomizing. We're on till the 24th in Dalston, then on tour till the end of October - shameless plug.

this review reminds me of someone who needs to remove their head from their ass. Skirt round the edge and avoid the bigger picture why don't you! There is a lot of British East Asian acting talent out there if people care to look - instead of skirting over and around the issues, finding any old stupid arty farty excuse to justify this type of casting!!

I'm afraid this just confirms the contempt and lack of respect that the Artistic and wider community have towards the Chinese

While I have no doubt about the quality of the writing, direction and acting, wouldn't this "yellow face" casting (white actors playing East Asian characters) work equally well the other way round, using five well-spoken British East Asian actors to play the various characters, "as well as the white Westerners who make cruel use of them"? Wouldn't that "alienating technique" be more innovative / post-modern, rather than the current safe casting? Can you imagine the uproar if an all-white cast was used in a play set in a South Asian or Afro-Caribbean restaurant? What has happened to British theatre's aspirations towards inclusiveness and diversity, and the values of London 2012? In tatters, like the Arts Council's funding for BME companies.