Listen to episode four on any platform here.
In 2018 I was also lucky enough to see see playwright Daniel York Loh’s #Forgotten遗忘 . It was well crafted. Intelligent. Necessary. In fact to envision and then produce a story with the sweeping width and breadth of #Forgotten遗忘 takes massive brain power and tenacity.
The Stage introduced their rave review thus, ‘Daniel York Loh’s study of the 140,000 Chinese Labour Corps who worked tirelessly for Britain during the First World War is a rhythmic and expansive piece of theatre which showcases the best of (often underestimated) British East Asian talent.’
I’ve known Daniel for his comment pieces on Theatre and TV which I commissioned, for years as Editor in Chief of Media Diversified. That was fire enough, his playwriting however astounded me.
Well done to the Arcola theatre also for having the vision to program it. Not a single weak link amongst the cast. In fact if the British acting industry were fairer they would all be household names.
I want to see this as a 3 part BBC One TV series. It could be our generation’s version of War and Peace or Parade’s End but without the raging bitch played by Rebecca Hall and the stoic piece of cheese that is Benedict Cumberbatch’s character. When talking to Daniel recently about what seemed to me to be a burgeoning movement of creatives of colour without fear or favour he said to me: “I saw Misty earlier this year and was completely inspired and emboldened by it. It fired me to take what I was doing with #Forgotten遗忘 even further. I love what diverse theatre makers are doing with London theatre at the moment. I’ve never known it so vibrant, urgent and exciting’ and everything fell in to place. Indeed both #Forgotten遗忘 and Misty utilised magical realism in a way I have never seen on stage.
Excerpt from Creatives of Colour are the Fela Kutis of Our Time
DANIEL YORK LOH is — a writer, performer, filmmaker and musician of mixed Singaporean British heritage. His dramatic writing has been performed at the Arcola, Royal Court, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Ovalhouse and Soho Theatre.
His first stage-play, The Fu Manchu Complex was produced at Ovalhouse. His second play, Forgotten 遗忘, was staged at Arcola and Plymouth Theatre Royal in 2018.
He is one of 21 ‘writers of colour’ featured in the best-selling essay collection The Good Immigrant.
He has performed at most of Britain’s leading theatres – including the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre and in the West End - as well as extensively in Singapore.
His short films have played in festivals worldwide and is currently Associate Artistic Director at Kakilang with whom he co-created and performed the award-winning every dollar is a soldier/with money you’re a dragon.
He is a founder member of BEATS (British East & Southeast Asian in Theatre and on Screen) and has served on Equity’s Race Equality Committee as Chair and Vice Chair.
He is one-third of the alt-folk punk trio Wondermare. And just finished filming a TV series with Sheridan Smith due to air in 2025.
We met at a protest convened by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign outside the courts of Justice today to protest Barclays banks acquisition of Tesco Bank.
And raise our voices against the ongoing Genocide in Palestine.
Writing for Media Diversified Abu Bakr Hussain analysed the past 12 months of atrocities commited by Israel and said the following about what's coming next...
Gaza is now effectively uninhabitable. A report 6 months ago from the UN stated over 70% of all housing in Gaza is already destroyed or damaged. This percentage will now be undoubtedly higher. There are over 40 million tonnes of rubble in Gaza. The work to remove this will likely take decades, complicated by the fact that much of this rubble will contain human remains.
Compounded with un-exploded ordnance and the carnage left behind by total war, the landscape of Gaza should be better thought of as the battlefields of the First World War known as ‘zone rouge’ which to this day remain largely uninhabited.
Mass graves (120 so far recorded) are abundant in Gaza. This is an incontrovertible fact which the world is pretending not to notice. In addition there are an untold number of bodies held inside Israel itself. Sde Teiman detention facility for example has 1,500 known bodies, with autopsies not carried out. Our estimates such as one from Lancet estimating perhaps 186,000 deaths are only hazy at present and hence deniable. Real substantive investigation will have to be carried out to ascertain the final death tolls.
There has been no real state-level intervention against Israel at the time of writing. Even Iran, which has launched missiles against Israel, deliberately launched them as a deterrent with well-telegraphed salvos that were limited in scope. Arab and Muslim countries which had been presumed to be natural allies of Palestinians have stayed largely on the sidelines. There has been some performative issuing of communiques, but no boots on the ground or intervention as yet.
Paradoxically, this poses an issue for Israel. If it does not escalate, the war will eventually come to a natural conclusion and Israel will face a reckoning for its actions and there will be a reconfiguration of the world. He warns we should fear any other outcome.
This is episode 4 of the 8 part season. Go hear to listen to the show on any platform you usually use.
P.S I know there is going to be some non-black women and/or middle class women who try to take my experiences and use them as their own. Trust me, I will hunt you down if you do and you will catch these hands.
From Palestine to Middlesbrough: What is Art for with Daniel York Loh