AUCKLAND THEATRE CO

Michelle Law’s beloved hit comedy Single Asian Female is making its New Zealand debut in a production by the Auckland Theatre Company.

Michelle Law’s hit comedy Single Asian Female is making its New Zealand debut.

Michelle Law’s much-loved comedy Single Asian Female is set to make its New Zealand debut with the Auckland Theatre Company. Chinese-Australian writer and actor Law is one of those enviable people with a level of productivity most of us could only dream of reaching. She’s currently putting the finishing touches on her second play, which she will also be performing in, in addition to working on a book, an original opera, another play and several film and TV projects.

She’s in high demand, and anyone who watches her critically acclaimed play Single Asian Female will understand why. Kiwi audiences will have the chance to see it for themselves when Auckland Theatre Company presents the comedy for the first time in Aotearoa from late April.

With Law’s blessing and oversight, the play’s setting has been moved from Australia to New Zealand’s Mount

Maunganui. It follows the Wong family: Pearl, a first-generation Chinese immigrant and single mother trying to keep her restaurant afloat (played by Kat Tsz Hung, pictured); her eldest daughter Zoe, who has moved back home and is facing big life decisions; and younger daughter Mei, who is pushing back against her heritage as she grapples with her cultural identity in New Zealand.

Cassandra Tse, who is directing the play, says it is “a real landmark in terms of ATC’s programming” due to it being about a Chinese diaspora family featuring three Chinese-New Zealand women leads and directed by a Chinese-New Zealander. Similarly, when Single Asian Female first debuted in 2017, it was considered a breakthrough in Australian theatre. It was the first Australian mainstage play to feature three Asian leads.

That was bittersweet for Law; it’s a feeling that endures as more diversity milestones are reached across the arts. “It’s funny – I was just reflecting on how Steven Yeun has made history by being the first Asian-American man to be nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards,” she says. “On one hand, I’m thrilled – ‘finally’, I thought to myself when I read the news. But I was also deeply weary and angry that it’s taken this long, especially considering Hollywood has a long and fraught history of yellow face. I feel the same way about Single Asian Female, for several reasons.”

One of those reasons is that growing up, Law craved a show like Single Asian Female, one which featured positive and threedimensional representations of women who were part of the Asian diaspora. “I had little to no representation on TV screens or in theatres and that invisibility reinforced my sense of alienation and feelings of worthlessness,” she says.

In terms of being an Asian woman in the arts, Law points to the career of Hsiao-Ling Tang – the actress who played Pearl in the original Australian production – as being emblematic of the industry’s problem with diversity. “She’s one of the most phenomenal performers I’ve ever encountered and yet she had to take an extended hiatus from acting because there was simply no work for her that wasn’t a bit part, or derogatory in some way,” Law says.

“I hate that racism in the arts restricted her career, and I hate that as an audience member I was robbed of her incredible talents for so long. Nobody wins. I feel honoured that Single Asian Female has become a text Asian women can turn to for lead roles; however it’s a lot of pressure and our communities need more works from which to draw.”

Single Asian Female is not autobiographical. Yet while writing the play, Law tapped into a significant part of her upbringing growing up as an ethnic minority on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. “Besides my own immediate and extended family, there was a very small Chinese community on the Sunshine Coast, and that was highlighted for me from a very young age – whether through outright racist attacks like people yelling ‘rice’ and ‘go back to China’ from their cars, or daily microaggressions like white Australians speaking to me loudly and slowly, as if I couldn’t understand English, despite it being my first language. I wanted to provide validation for those audience members who have been at the receiving end of such vitriol, as well as show white audiences the stark reality of racism and its effects on ethnic minorities.”

Law says her discussions with director Tse about the cultural signifiers that would need to be translated for a New Zealand audience revealed there are many natural parallels. “There are some social issues that do feel particularly Australian, but others that actually feel more true to New Zealand’s sociopolitical landscape that Cassandra will lean into,” she says. “I’m so excited to see what she, the cast and crew come up with.”

Single Asian Female 27 April - 15 May, ASB Waterfront Theatre, atc.co.nz

“I’M SO EXCITED TO SEE WHAT THE DIRECTOR AND CAST COME UP WITH.” MICHELLE LAW