“Multiculturalism makes no demands of the incomer to integrate. It has failed because it allowed people to come to our society and live parallel lives in it … And, in extreme cases, they could pursue lives aimed at undermining the stability and threatening the security of society.”
Stella Braverman (victim of autocorrect), 2023
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| EXCLUSIVE pantoblog make-your-own Stella Braverman bookmark template |
It's the quote that everyone in politics wants to talk about. No sooner had The Bravermeister spouted her talking points, tory MPs have put in formal complaints to the chief whip, the former Home Secretary and the Prime Minister have distanced himself from her comments and even the Bishop of Leicester is having a go at her!
Deary me, Stella... you know you're in political hot water when the Church of England AND the Conservative Party are briefing against you!
Of course, electorally the whole debacle is political genius. The fear that multiculturalism is undermining indigenous British culture is far from a fringe view (This now out of date article cites the finding that 40% of UK residents surveyed agree with this position). Having senior cabinet members playing both sides of the issue allows the party to hoover up votes from both camps.
Whatever your position, at least we can all agree that there IS such a thing as indigenous British culture, and panto is definitely part of it.
Last week I gave a talk at Staffs Uni about patterns of ethnic diversity relating to submission for panto auditions. Honest, guv... here's the picture to prove it:
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| Voted best looking presenter 2023, Staffs Uni (Pantomime Casting category) |
I got the train down, and got chatting to the guy sat opposite me. His name was Mohammed, he was 40 years old and his mum and dad had immigrated to the UK from Pakistan after the partition of India and settled in the Wirral (why would anyone settle in the Wirral? Not even Mohammed knew that!) We had a lot in common - apart from both having lived within 3 miles of Birkenhead, we'd both moved to London and then moved back up North. Presumably because everyone in the North is friendly, down-to-earth and incredibly attractive, where-as Londoners are rich and in a hurry.
"How long were you down South?" I asked.
"Eight years," answered Mohammed.
"Blimey, I can't believe it took you that long to realise it's better up North," I jibed.
"Well, it is now," he replied.
NOW?! I was gobsmacked. Surely this was sacrilege. The North has always been better than the South! What did he mean?
Luckily he explained...
"When I was a kid, we were the only non-white family around. I felt like I didn't fit in. I preferred it in London because I had friends and family there - people who looked like me. However, the Wirral has changed a lot since I first moved away. Now, there are loads of people from all over the place. It feels more multicultural. I prefer it."
Britain is changing
Census data for England and Wales shows that, from 2001 to 2021 the percentage of people in the white British ethnic group went down from 87.5% to 74.4%
Of interest to anyone thinking of staging Aladdin in China, in the same period, the proportion of the population that self identify their ethnicity as Chinese went up from 0.4% of the population in 2001 to 0.7% of the population in 2021 (445,646 souls in total).
It's a bit trickier to backtrack further than this, as the categorisation of ethnicity by the census changes. This breakdown by Manchester University shows that since 1991 the proportion of the UK population that is not white has doubled from roughly 7% to 14% today, but this is the first year that the census has a well-defined question about ethnicity.
Immigration is not a new phenomenon. This website shows some great photos of UK residents with a wide range of ethnicities from as far back as the turn of the 20th century. But, these cases are notable because of their rarity. The trend is clear: the slice of the UK population that is white and UK-born is getting slimmer.
So what does that mean for panto? What does it mean for Aladdin?
Well, it depends on who you ask.
Some people love a traditional Aladdin.
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| - Someone with excellent taste in panto |
Other people think that Aladdin should be retired completely.
Feeling Yellow
“I felt anxious as I waited for the actors to enter the stage so that I could locate identity in their faces, a reductive yet routine way of deducing race. Anxiety turned into dismay, as I registered a white actor embodying one of the Flying Lings. Instead of donning bronzer and eye prostheses, the more blatant markers of yellowface, he matched the other performers in wearing black changshan with yellow-gold trim. Relying upon the costumes to do the labor of signifying Asianness, the production gave the performers greater ease to put on and take off racialized markers.”
Donatella Galella, Feeling Yellow: Responding to Contemporary Yellowface in Musical Performance
Of course, that's America. Thank goodness things are different over here.
Aren't they?
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| Hilarious: Even though this image was generated by AI, I'm sure that I recognise the actors |
One prominent voice in UK theatre protesting against Yellowface is Daniel York Loh. He describes
"A friend recently attended Aladdin with his niece at a regional theatre and was shocked and upset by the sight of Caucasian cast members in 'yellow face' - full-on Chinese costumes and make-up. Like me, my friend is of Chinese descent. Another Asian friend of mine walked out of another production of Aladdin in a different regional theatre because he felt the content was racist. He was even targeted from the stage as he was leaving the theatre - he and his young son were the only non-white people in the audience."
REALLY? I mean, maybe in the 80s... when people did the Chinese language test and the funny voice and the yellow make-up. But TWO nearly identical occasions of people feeling like they had to walk out? As someone who doesn't have people walk out of their shows - it seems to stretch credulity. Seriously, how bad are other people's pantos?
I had to investigate...
I read a dozen commercially available scripts for Aladdin. They're not necessarily the most performed, or ones from the biggest theatres, but all the scripts I reviewed have been/are being performed somewhere in the UK and they are all being hired out for money.
And err...
Ahem...
I hate to disappoint you all, but I gotta agree with DYL.
If the scripts that I've read are anything to go by, I would walk out of most Aladdin's. It's not that the scripts are racist per se. It's more that they are crap.
I'm not going to embarrass anyone by name. But if you have written a script of Aladdin and want to try and figure out if I've read it or not, here is a handy list:
Generic Asian image
5 Ways to tell if your script of Aladdin is Crap (IMHO)*
- It is simultaneously set in China, Tibet, Arabia and India as though these are all one country,
- Wishee Washee is described as a <insert Chinese food> short of a take-away, several times, just with different foods,
- Instead of jokes that are related to the plot, characters just name things that are Chinese,
- The characters names are types of food, or references to testicles, despite the fact that it has nothing to do with their characters. They may even have different names in different scenes!
- Somebody sings Kung Fu Fighting even though the scene has nothing to do with Kung Fu
*(If you think the portrayal of Chinese people is problematic... you'll be floored at the depictions of women!)
I'm not Chinese and I was cringing. No wonder people are walking out!
"When encountering non-Asians masquerading as Asians in yellow face in twenty-first-century stage musical performances, I feel righteously angry, profoundly sad, and racially alienated."
Donatella Galella, ibid.
People don't like to feel left out. They like to be included. If you are making a panto that doesn't make people feel included, not only are you likely to get bawled out on X née Twitter, you aren't doing yourself any favours at the box office.
Of course, you don't have to set it in China. Andrew Jackson's script ditches the Emperor of China in favour of a General of Pantoland. If you aren't sold on that, another clever idea comes from Dave Crump's very competent NODA script who does set the plot in China, but casts the characters as Brits:
"Wishee: If this is Peking Mom, how come none of us are Chinese?
Twankey: China is the fastest growing country in the world, lots of Brits moved here, it’s practically full of people from Sutton Coldfield."
Dave Crump, great script!
These approaches may not be traditional but the scripts are good!
Does that mean we can't set Aladdin in China? No. But we can't use 'tradition' as a smokescreen for churning out the same old, tired crap. It's lazy, it's otherising and if nothing else: it's boring.
Generic image of writing specifically
5 Ways to do Something Better
- Do your research,
- Be specific, ("Oriental" or "Asian" is not a homogenous melting pot)
- Write characters, not stereotypes
- Write your own jokes about what's going on in the plot
- For the love of God, just call the policemen something else other than Prawn and Cracker... if you can't think of anything better, you can have my idea: PC World and Sergeant Pepper. No copyright, you're welcome.
Well, that's my twopennethworth. I suppose I'll see you all in the comments section, and I'll give the last word to DYL
"Nobody’s looking to dumb down panto. By acknowledging and taking into account the cultural melting pot that is modern Britain, I would argue that we’re asking it to be more appreciative of complex racial and societal nuance."
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