Why Don't Our Musicals Showcase South Asian Talent?

We talk a lot about representation, when it comes to TV shows, films and even politics (Tories don’t count as humans, so we’re going to gloss over that) but it comes at a price; tokenism. We are granted a handful of actors or representatives who are paraded in front of us over and over again. But sometimes progress is slow and we must keep inspiring young people in our communities to take an interest in performing, the arts and politics, with the security of a career, or we won’t see much change.

An area where the idea of representation hasn’t evolved quite like everywhere else is in musical theatre. A place where talents in acting, dancing and singing are all utilised - meaning the skillset for each performer is exponentially significant.

I recently saw posters of Meera Syal in Annie and it filled me with hope. But whenever I think of musicals, I see only white faces and it doesn’t compel me to watch it. I’m tired of seeing the same faces who don’t look like me when I know there’s so much talent out there that does.

The Stage did a breakdown of representation in West End musical theatre with gender and race, revealing that Black actors make up a significant majority of diverse representation - at a total of 85%. South Asian actors represented only 7%, and East Asian actors 3%. And I’m not going to contest that, because Black actors should take the stage and take space. I’m merely suggesting that 7% is not good enough for South Asian actors, since they take up a large proportion of the population - East Asian actors also deserve better.

There needs to be more work done, if we’re going to see more Asians in musical theatre. I don’t just want Asian stories told - that can sometimes be troublesome, you can’t represent a whole diverse culture in one musical - I want to see Asians cast in roles that they have the ability to fill. Not every Indian wants to tell a story about racism, growing up British Indian and having samosas with tomato ketchup. They represent us from their mere existence. The talent is there, the opportunities aren’t. 

Rifco Theatre Company and Tamasha are two regional companies who put on Black and Asian plays and musical shows. Both independent companies, funded by Arts Councils - it is usually down to us to create spaces for ourselves. So why aren’t larger theatre houses putting the work in?

If productions are casting one ethnic person in a show, it fills their diversity quota, they can wash their hands of any guilt and pat themselves on the back during meetings. It isn’t for us, it’s for them...and it shows. 

Jason Donovan has returned to the stage for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, as the Pharaoh...an Egyptian Pharaoh, played by the whitest person I can think of. It reminds me of Gods of Egypt with Gerard Butler, the whitewashing of history is a common theme in narratives, either from period dramas or religious allegories. 

It seems that people of colour exist only when it suits white storytelling - I recently read Black Tudors: The Untold Story by Miranda Kaufman, which tells stories about Africans who lived freely in Tudor England. The stories are there, the talent is there...so why are we still struggling?

When we look at the history of Asian characters represented on screen or stage, we see white actors ‘brownface’ - from Peter Sellers in The Party to more recently, Ashton Kutcher in a PopChips advert in 2012. Skin is darkened, accents put on and elaborate clothing is worn by white people in order to fill those spaces, but these aren’t spaces for them to fill. While we ask where our representation is, we need to focus on why those who can represent us aren’t given opportunities.

Speaking to Irvine Iqbal, who has played the Sultan in the Disney musical adaptation of Aladdin, he confirms the lack of visibility: “There is unrecognised diverse talent out there, which warrants their casting appointment”.

The Royal Shakespeare Company have announced that they are going to make a concerted effort to show more diversity in their productions this year, in terms of gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs or disability. What’s great about their output is they don’t have token actors in their shows, they are giving space to whole productions from different diverse backgrounds to tell their story. More companies need to follow suit.