Grimeborn reveals UK’s first all East and South East Asian cast for Turandot

Grimeborn Opera Festival has announced that its upcoming production of Turandot will be performed by an entirely East and South East Asian (ESEA) cast. This marks the first time that a professional production of Puccini’s opera, which is set in China with a story rooted in Central and East Asian literature, will be performed by an entirely ESEA cast.

The new production is a joint project between British East and Southeast Asian-led Ellandar Productions and The Opera Makers for Grimeborn Festival. It is supported behind the scenes by a majority ESEA creative team led by Olivier Award-nominated director and librettist Becca Marriott.

Running from 23 to 26 August, the reimagined Turandot ‘tackles head-on the work’s orientalist tropes and reflects on the new role the Far East plays as a modern, technological superpower’. The production also ‘challenges racist stereotypes that paint East Asian women as subservient, cruel or hyper-sexual, as well as the use of Yellowface in theatre and opera.’

Turandot is played by soprano Reiko Fukuda opposite tenor James Liu as Calaf (pictured left). They are joined by Michael CT Lam as Timur, Heming Li as Liú, Siyu Shen as Feng, Aina Miyagi Magnell as Xiang, Salome Siu as Ming, Jacob Bettinelli as Mandarin and Benjie del Rosario as Emperor.

The annual Grimeborn Opera Festival is hosted by the Arcola Theatre in Dalston with the aim of making opera accessible through contemporary staging and affordable ticket prices.