Written by Fa Mengkarak Hussain

Photo credits : Jane Lam and Deacon Lui

If our plants can thrive maybe we can too

Being from the older LGBTQIA generation, I can vouch that the garden centre is our theme park, which is a sign of growing into the middle aged …

Dear Mustafa,

We are BEATS (British East and South East Asian Theatre and Screen). We wish you a belated Eid Mubarak and hope that you are well.

It’s been nearly 6 months since your unlawful imprisonment by the Israeli government.

That’s half a year that could’ve …

We at BEATS stand in solidarity with the victims of the Palestine/Israel conflict. We mourn alongside the families and innocent lives lost that have being cruelly taken away for decades due to the political violence.

BEATS reject the term ‘Hamas supporters’ which …

Simply casting an opera “diversely” does not address the underlying and continuing white-washing and erasure of performing artists of East and Southeast Asian heritage (ESEAs).

Throughout history, ESEAs in the West have consistently been ignored, erased and …

18 out of 25 of the categories in BAFTA's 2023 awards had nominations who were People of Colour. At least half of these nominations were of ESEA heritage including directors Daniel Kwan of Everything, Everywhere All at Once and Park Chan-wook and Ko Dae-seok of De…

Monday 28 November 2022

RESPONSE TO "PROGRAMMING MISS SAIGON: ROBERT HASTIE AND ANTHONY LAU SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS"

By Kimber Lee

One effective way to silence and control women, especially Global Majority women, is to dismiss them as angry or hysterical. And after …

“I thought it was terrible, fulfilling every Orientalist trope that I had studied and was opposed to…  it fits perfectly into the way that Americans, and Europeans, have imagined the Vietnam War as a racial and sexual fantasy that negates the war’s political …

By JM Arrow

‘I’m from Singapore, but people wouldn’t believe it when they look at me.’

Muhammad Faizul Abdullah, Siapa Yang Bawa Melayu Aku Pergi? (Who Took My Malay Away?)

Walk the streets of any South East Asian country. You’ll see different shades of skin tones …

Published September 7, 2019

Earlier this year [31st July 2019] BEATS raised concerns about Hampstead Theatre’s decision to fly in an East Asian actor from America to play a lead role in The King of Hell’s Palace set in China, written by the Asian American writer …

Posted July 31, 2019

On 31 July 2019, Hampstead Theatre announced a staging of The King of Hell’s Palace, written by Frances Ya-Chi Cowhig and directed by Michael Boyd. In response to their production, we drafted the following open letter.

Hampstead Theatre …

Published April 7, 2020
BEATS is an advocacy group for British East Asians and South East Asians working in theatre and in the screen industry. British East and South East Asians in arts and culture are underrepresented, marginalised and maligned. It is our …

Published April 6, 2020

BEATS is an organisation that is dedicated to fighting for equality, better representation of British East and South East Asians, and halting the racism and prejudice that many British East Asians are subjected to in the UK.

On the 13, …

Published, March 13, 2020

In January 2020, following concerns raised 9 months earlier by a British East Asian working in opera, the English National Opera [ENO] reached out to a range of East Asian artists and academics working and living in the UK to attend a …

Published, February 20, 2020 It has been brought to our attention that BBC4 has commissioned two documentaries about the Chinese in Britain and Vietnamese in Britain as part of A Very British History. We are disappointed to learn of more BBC projects that pivot …

Posted on February 12, 2019
On the 12 February 2019, B E A T S communicated with CBBC and Twenty Twenty, a television production company, regarding children’s sitcom Living with the Lams which is currently being developed.

A copy of our letter is shared here. We …

Published January 8, 2020
BAFTA Nominations 2020

BEATS is disappointed at the lack of diversity in this year’s BAFTA nominations, especially in the acting categories.

We believe that the nominations reflect the lack of diversity in the industry as a whole. …

BEATS stands in solidarity with #BLM

Posted on Jul 29, 2022

As an advocacy group for British East and South-East Asians (BESEAs), BEATS (British East & South-East Asians in Theatre & on Screen) supports colour-conscious casting across stage and screen, including in opera.

BEATS recognises that casting …

Posted on Jul 28, 2022

Hello, there! And thank you for visiting our new blog!

Here at Beats.org, we are a non-profit organisation that believes in providing the British East and South East Asian people in London with visibility. In order to help even more, we …

First published September 8, 2020
The trailer for ITV’s latest flagship period drama The Singapore Grip was greeted with a predictable chorus of derision on Twitter last week.

In a landscape where our creative industries are decimated, the Black Lives Matter …