This is a timely collection of six diverse contemporary plays, being published within months of the opening of three plays by British East Asian playwrights in the UK, and a growing awareness in the mainstream press that East Asians in British theatre are under-represented. As Daniel York Loh writes: British East Asians were effectively side-lined in any debate on diversity in theatre where the general establishment view tends towards a binary black/white... which seems to exclude large swathes of the Asian continent. With a historical overview of the involvement of East Asians and those of Chinese descent in British theatre ranging over more than 200 years.
With an introduction by academics Dr. Amanda Rogers and Dr. Ashley Thorpe which sets the plays into context and explores the hidden history of theatre from BEA theatre-makers.
The seven plays in the anthology are:
Bound Feet Blues
by Yang-May Ooi
The Last Days of Limehouse
by Jeremy Tiang
Conversations with my Unknown Mother
by Lucy Chau Lai-Tuen
Special Occasions
by Amy Ng
Jamaica Boy
by Stephen Hoo
Tango
by Joel Tan
The Fu Manchu Complex
by Daniel York Loh