Application of make-up to make actors look more like a certain ethnicity, such as yellow-face, black-face, brown-face or red-face is never acceptable. “Pan-Asian casting” is the term used for casting people of the same ethnicity but of different Asian nationalities.Ĥ. Pan-Asian casting in the UK is generally acceptable (context-dependent), as despite the multiplicity of Asian cultures, ethnicities and histories, Asians have faced similar historical exclusions from the stage and discrimination in the West, and any progress on representation across this group is supported. In opera particularly, AoCs have historically found access and opportunities to be highly limited.ģ. Casting a white actor in a specifically non-white role, known as ‘whitewashing’, is regressive, as it perpetuates the historical and present exclusion of AoCs from the stage, and limits the ability of AoCs to participate in the telling of their own stories on stage. Casting an Artist of Colour (AoC) in a traditional ‘white’ role can be progressive (context-dependent), as it can work to balance out the historical and current exclusion of AoCs on stage, and the discrimination they have experienced and continue to experience.Ģ. Generally speaking, to improve representation across our industry, our current recommendations are as follows:ġ.
BEATS welcomes the Labour Party’s decision to suspend the whip from Neil Coyle and we await further actions from the investigation.īEATS STATEMENT ON COLOUR CONSCIOUS CASTING IN OPERAĪs an advocacy group for British East and South-East Asians (BESEAs), BEATS (British East & South-East Asians in Theatre & on Screen) supports colour-conscious casting across stage and screen, including in opera.īEATS recognises that casting is a complex and developing process, and advises that context should be taken into account, and may influence the below parameters.
Attacks of this nature, where Henry was stereotyped due to his ethnicity, should not be tolerated. During the pandemic the surge in racism and hate crimes against east and south east Asians has seen our community face even greater levels of verbal and physical abuse. ‘Yellowface’ is the use of dialect, make up, posture and costuming by white actors to portray Asian characters.įurther, we urge ROH to include BESEA artists in the original creative teams of such operas, rather than as latter-stage consultants, and to commission new works from BESEA creatives, with more nuanced understandings of ESEA race relations, history and culture.īEATS STATEMENT ON RACIAL STEREOTYPING FROM MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENTīEATS stands in solidarity with journalist Henry Dyer following his complaint against Labour MP Neil Coyle for offensive racial stereotyping. ROH also agreed to remove any ‘yellowface’ makeup, however, from the production photos, it seems that this has regrettably not been implemented.
BRITISH ASIAN TV SHOWS UPDATE
We also advocate for increasing the age of the character Butterfly from 15, as it contributes to the dehumanising normalisation of abuse against ESEA minors.īEATS welcomes certain efforts that ROH have made to update their revival of a twenty-year-old production, including employing ESEA costume and movement consultants. We urge the ROH to undertake a thorough review of its casting processes to ensure much better and more appropriate representation on- and off-stage. In opera particularly, Artists of Colour have historically found access and opportunities to be highly limited.įor an opera set in Japan to have so few ESEAs on stage is simply unacceptable. Casting a white actor in a specifically non-white role, known as ‘whitewashing’, is regressive, as it perpetuates the historical and present exclusion of Artists of Colour from the stage, and limits the ability of Artists of Colour to participate in the telling of their own stories on stage. We support colour-conscious casting across the arts. Across two casts, there is only one BESEA singer in a lead role, and only one BESEA singer in the chorus. (British East & South-East Asians in Theatre & on Screen) is very concerned about the Royal Opera House’s summer 2022 production of ‘Madama Butterfly’, which has very poor representation of BESEAs on stage.
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