British Chinese comedy web series Jade Dragon will launch on Monday 27 February 2017.
The 19-episode mockumentary web series centres around a TV crew documenting a British Chinese takeaway. The TV crew visits Jade Garden takeaway, hoping to document a ‘typical’ Chinese takeaway, the natural habitat of the Chinese person. To the crew’s dismay, Jade Dragon and its staff prove to be as English as a Yorkshire pudding.
By using humor, the series hopes to shed light on the everyday casual stereotyping and racism experienced by East Asians in a light-hearted and non-confrontational manner.
“We expose the issues but don’t judge,” says Rebecca Boey, the writer of the series, “it is up to the viewers to make the judgement for themselves.”
Boey herself is an East Asian actor who has is deeply concerned about the lack of representation of East Asians on UK screens. “As an actor of East Asian heritage I am very aware of the lack of representation of people of my ethnicity on UK screens and stages. We are barely there, and when we are, we usually play foreigners with cod-Chinese accents, more often than not working in Chinese takeaways.”
The actress and writer described Jade Dragon as a character-led series, which allows for realistic elements and experiences from the actors to be reflected in their characters. “It was important to us that the series was about real people, who just happen to be East Asian, and that the characters were more than just their ethnicity.”
Boey added that she was angered by the yellowface incident at the Print Room, stating that the incident reinforces the need for British East Asian actors to be accepted as English too. “In light of the ludicrous ‘yellowface’ at the Print Room in Notting Hill this January, the need for us to be seen and accepted as English as well as ‘yellow’ has never felt so urgent. Our dream is that Jade Dragon gets a cult following (got to think big!), as we believe it could be a very positive thing for East Asians in the UK.”
Jade Dragon will launch on 27 February 2017, which coincides with ‘Dragon Heads-raising Day’ – an auspicious day in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The series will be available on YouTube and JackDaw.co for free, in the hope that it will reach beyond the small community of BEA actors.
The series is directed, filmed and edited by Joseph Brett and stars Daniel York, Chloe Ewart, Stephen Hoo, Rebecca Boey, Rosie Revan, Jennifer Lim and Divian Ladwa.
