Dear protest supporters,
Some of you will have seen a debate on
social media regarding our Print Room protest.
A small number of people have accused us protesters of wrongly believing
that the Print Room has used racist casting practices. Most people who do not live in a privileged
bubble of whiteness completely reject any idea that yellowface casting is in
any way not racist, but rather completely demonstrates complacency regarding
racist practices. Us protesters place inclusiveness
at the heart of all that we do and it is particularly hurtful that we should be
attacked on this ground.
I am an ancient Chinese genius that has
been described as the “best person ever in the world”. Some of you will be familiar with me, but I
won’t bother to drop names to try and impress you. I have actually written a
play about a fantasy racist world called “The Print Room” which is obviously
actually the target of our protest. It
is poetic and often difficult to pin down in time or place, but definitely out
of touch with the rest of the world. I
am a fabulist, in the mode of Beckett.
In presenting my piece (which I obviously
have not offered to these attackers to read or see), I note that “the Print
Room” is run by a lady called Anda Winters who uses yellowface casting in a
piece by a man named Howard Barker directed by a director called Gerrard
something. I do this to evoke a physical
setting that is removed from my own, race-conscious, relatively enlightened,
perceptive space. It is an imaginary
location, and is not intended to reflect any particular historical reality,
past or present (OBVIOUSLY, duh, why would anyone who shares these names think
otherwise?!)
Some people contend that my reference to the
Print Room, however oblique in intention, should present it as not a racist
institution run by someone who belittles ethnic minorities and tells them how
they should feel and when they should be offended. As my reference to the Print Room is
contextual rather than literal, this ancient Chinese genius and the leaders of
the protest believe we should let everyone know that this Print Room that I’ve
created is actually employing a very racist casting practice, which is what we
have done.
We are very sorry for the apparent offence
we inadvertently caused to some members of the theatre world (who awkwardly run
a similarly named theatre) who feel it is appropriate that an entire people and
country should actually be erased and turned into the imagination of one white
man. We seek to learn how we can best
communicate our protest (you know, as opposed to the multiple letters that have
been written and ignored and the reaching out to a person who keeps saying she
seeks to learn and engage but doesn’t respond to those who are trying to) so as
to avoid this sort of confusion in the future.
We are not willing, however, to change our social protest in response to
a couple of offensive statements and letters, without consulting us (yes, WE
were not consulted, even though we asked many questions which went unanswered),
by people who appear not to have read my awesome work and are therefore unable
to consider my piece in its artistic context.
In our promotion of our peaceful protest, freedom of expression has
always been, and always will be a central concern.
There have been many letters and articles
written on both sides, but obviously I am going to say that the other side has
had none and call them wrong, without listening to them.
We welcome your comments directly.
Thank you for all your support and
friendship through the years. This is a
difficult issue for us and we will take any responsibility for mistakes we make
– we always have more to learn. But I’m
basically saying, we didn’t make any, so ha.
With best wishes,
Ancient Chinese Genius.
