Successful 'Orphan' taps into Shakespearean vein of Chinese classic
The RSC overcomes ethnicity row and taps into a Shakespearean vein with its first production of a Chinese classic, writes Victoria Finlay
Since its opening in October the Royal Shakespeare Company in Britain has had terrific reviews for The Orphan of Zhao, the first Chinese play that it has performed in its 51-year history.
"This is a stunning act of theatrical reclamation … and an extraordinary theatrical event," The Guardian newspaper said, while The Telegraph called it "gripping" and "the Chinese Hamlet".
However, the first nights of the production were overshadowed by controversy over the casting.
A Britain-based Chinese actor asked the perfectly reasonable question of why, in a cast of 17 actors, only three were ethnic Chinese. The question, as these things tend to do in days of social media, went viral.
The RSC's artistic director, Gregory Doran, was called a "racist", an experience he found upsetting and regrettable. "I thought 'I don't think you've got the right target to attack the RSC when we've just done an all-black Julius Caesar and a version of [Shakespeare's play] Much Ado About Nothing featuring only Indian actors … and are now doing a Chinese play'."
He explains that the 17 members of the cast were employed for a repertory season of three plays, including one set in Italy and the other in Russia. Casting was blind, in terms of ethnicity, and the idea was that the season would give opportunities to a whole range of actors, Doran says.