Long-distance call
Natasha Huang was the principal make-up artist for the pop opera Monkey: Journey to the West, written by Blur frontman Damon Albarn and cartoon artist Jamie Hewlett and directed by Chen Shi-zheng. The sell-out show, based on the Chinese legend, has just finished a run at London's O2 arena.
'It's a brilliant collaboration of east and west,' Huang says of the production, which, with a Chinese cast, is a mix of music - using western and eastern instruments - animation, visual effects and martial arts.
'I was responsible for the make-up for the female cast. It takes about two hours before each show and there were two performances a day. I'm happy to have had the chance to work with so many talented and fun people. Some nights, after the show, we would all go out for a drink and a chat. One night, I suggested Jamie get a 'monkey-style' hair cut - and he did.'
It's just one in a long line of freelance jobs the 27-year-old former student of Chinese art has taken since leaving Taiwan University and heading for London, where she studied special-effects make-up.
'Apart from Monkey - which I also worked on in the US - I have designed and created the make-up on many shows, including Le Corsair with the Bolshoi Ballet at the London Coliseum and the Miss China beauty pageants,' says Huang.
It's a long way from her first job at a wedding company in Taipei, where she worked part-time while studying.
'I loved art college. I started doing make-up for brides to earn some money. I found painting on faces much more interesting than doing it on paper. I liked the way the colours and lines changed when the face moved,' she says.
Even so, Huang wasn't prepared for what lay ahead at the London College of Fashion. 'I had to carry out a lot of research at night for the special-effects coursework. Some of the subjects and images I saw [in films] were really scary. So much so that I would keep the light on when I went to bed. I still do.'
Huang recently created the make-up for the film Patient 17, starring English soap star Hannah Waterman, and says it's her ambition to win an Oscar for her work.
'I'd love to have the opportunity to work on a film like Around the World in 80 Days with Jackie Chan. It involves lots of changes and styles of make-up from different eras, countries and cultures. History has always been one of my favourite subjects, so to combine that with my work would be a dream come true.'
Now that Monkey has ended, Huang is focusing on an upcoming exhibition.
'As far as I'm aware it's the first of its kind,' she says. 'I'm going to use my knowledge of Chinese arts with my make-up skills and body-art experience to create a display using Chinese idioms as the theme.
'The proverbs will be written in Chinese calligraphy with pinyin English translations and explanations. I hope visitors read and understand them while learning some written Chinese.
'I think art is a good way of showing the diversity of my culture.'
