Last night I finally finished off the first draft of Anna May Wong Must Die!. I’ve been thinking about this even before 2008, when I made a BBC Radio 4 programme on one of my heroines, A Celestial Star In Piccadilly, about Hollywood’s first Chinese screen legend, Anna May Wong (broadcast January 2009). I’d originally […]
Anna May Wong Must Die! first draft complete Read More »
Takeaway Theatre Royal Stratford East The cast were fab, the energy level of the production was sky-high, but why was all that talent wasted on a heartless non-story about such an unsympathetic character? Takeaway, a musical touted by some as a long-awaited breakthrough for UK Chinese, is a delight in so many ways that it’s
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Anna Chen – 27 January 2011 A fighter plane roars overhead. Lights come up on a bleak black-and-white Elsinore Castle. Soldiers in camouflage strike the familiar high-shouldered automatic rifle-toting power-pose so beloved of army recruitment ads, sorry, TV & movies. Who needs a bare bodkin when a Bullpup SA80 can do the job? Two youths
Militarised Hamlet at the National Theatre: review Read More »
Anna Chen – Wednesday, 17 November 2010 Hungry GhostsWritten and directed by Tim Luscombe10 Nov – 11 Dec 2010Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond Director/playwright Tim Luscombe sets out his agenda in the programme for Hungry Ghosts, his new play about human rights in China. “We should remember that China’s current leadership is in power only because
Hungry Ghosts theatre review: China from the outside Read More »
Last night Anna May Wong met Paul Robeson in Britain for the first time since the Thirties. Their stage personae, that is. I first heard of Tayo Aluko’s show, Call Mr Robeson, when I met him ten years ago at the Oval Theatre in London for a conference. Back then, it was still a dream
Call Mr Robeson review: a Black star in Britain Read More »
After much joy, tears and heartache, you can now visit the Anna May Wong Must Die! website here. It has all the info about my latest one-woman show, a multimedia-illustrated journey through the life and crimes of Anna May Wong, Hollywood’s first Chinese movie star. Anna May challenged prejudice and the racism enshrined in American
Anna May Wong Must Die! website now live Read More »
