Post by NZBC on Sept 4, 2007 22:44:21 GMT 12
Chanwai-Earle, Lynda
46 KaShue Letters Home L Y N D A C H A N W A I E A R L E Playwright s Note I am Eurasian by ethnicity a fourthgeneration New Zealander Based on the Chinese side of my family the Tung clan of BakChuen KaShue uncovers some of the last 150 years of a buried history in New Zealand There has been a noticeable absence of a Chinese voice in this country Perhaps it is because the Chinese community has been producing its own work for its own people but this work has been largely inaccessible to a wider public until now The material has often been spoken in Chinese and not produced for mainstream audiences In writing KaShue I have focused on the personal and domestic lives of three generations of a Chinese family KaShue spans the cultures of New Zealand and China encompassing a broad sweep of the political events between the two countries as a backdrop for the personal dramas of the characters This play is dedicated to my family I am aware that this play is close to the bone as far as my family history is concerned but I hope in the end that I have attempted a universal story about immigration about the systematic alienation of particular immigrant groups For me KaShue is also a story about immigrant women struggling to make for themselves a sense of home and identity The play works most effectively with minimal props and furniture which remain on stage throughout Descriptions such as...
46 KaShue Letters Home L Y N D A C H A N W A I E A R L E Playwright s Note I am Eurasian by ethnicity a fourthgeneration New Zealander Based on the Chinese side of my family the Tung clan of BakChuen KaShue uncovers some of the last 150 years of a buried history in New Zealand There has been a noticeable absence of a Chinese voice in this country Perhaps it is because the Chinese community has been producing its own work for its own people but this work has been largely inaccessible to a wider public until now The material has often been spoken in Chinese and not produced for mainstream audiences In writing KaShue I have focused on the personal and domestic lives of three generations of a Chinese family KaShue spans the cultures of New Zealand and China encompassing a broad sweep of the political events between the two countries as a backdrop for the personal dramas of the characters This play is dedicated to my family I am aware that this play is close to the bone as far as my family history is concerned but I hope in the end that I have attempted a universal story about immigration about the systematic alienation of particular immigrant groups For me KaShue is also a story about immigrant women struggling to make for themselves a sense of home and identity The play works most effectively with minimal props and furniture which remain on stage throughout Descriptions such as...