| Spotlight on Groups: The Mu-Lan Theatre Company |
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9 September 2000 The Mu-Lan Theatre Company was founded in 1989 and is dedicated to the promotion of British-Oriental writing and actors. Paul Courtenay Hyu, who is the Artistic Director, explained that actors who are Chinese or "Eurasian" (here meaning mixed-race Chinese, and not the Eurasian communities in India and Southeast Asia), have genuine difficulty in finding work that does not pigeon hole them into stereotyped roles. Mu-Lan aims to provide a platform for these actors to perform roles that do not make an issue out of their ethnicity. In this way Mulan provides a space not so much for Chinese actors but for actors who happen to be Chinese or East Asian. The other platform which Mulan is building is one that supports British Oriental writing. Recently the Company launched its first Mu-Lan Festival which was a series of rehearsed readings of new writing by or about British Oriental people. Very successful productions in the past have included: "The Magic Fundoshi" in 1993 which was very well received in London, Tokyo and Singapore and won a London Fringe Award; and "Take Away" in 1998 at the Lyric Theatre and which toured Britain in 1999. The Company is based at the Albany Empire Theatre in Deptford, London and also has a Youth Section, the Mu-Lan Youth Theatre, that outreaches to the community's young people. The youth group meets every week for acting sessions and socialising under the competent instruction of Li-Leng Au, the Youth Co-ordinator. November 2000 sees the Company presenting the play "Daughter of the River" by Hong Ying at various venues in London. This play, set in China, is "told from the viewpoint of the youngest daughter of a family of coolie labourers living on the banks of the Yangtze" in a time of devastating famine. After the London run, Mu-Lan intends to take this play to Southeast Asia. Past Productions |
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