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The Yellow Wave Is About To Roll In!

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Milk Bar Mag recently sat down with Director Beng Oh to talk about his new show The Yellow Wave about to premiere at The Poppy Seed Festival.

What is The Yellow Wave about?
The Yellow Wave was originally a novel written by Kenneth Mackay in 1895 where it is predicted that Britain would leave Australia and our shores would be taken over by Russian Mongols. Our rendition is an action-packed comedy about an Australian invasion, telling a story of love, heroism and sacrifice.

How long has it taken you to get this production off the ground?
The title The Yellow Wave first caught my eye about five years ago when I was looking through the state library catalogue. Eventually I was able to track down a copy of it and after I read it I knew I wanted to do something with it. It has taken us about a year and a half to really develop the production to get it where it is now.

Was it difficult to build a production from the novel?
This is the first book adaptation I’ve done and I think it is easier to adapt a well-written book rather than a messy one. My partner in crime Jane Miller took what was a fairly messy novel and has simplified, clarified and embellished the narrative in a way that is just so Jane, which is very beautiful. We wanted to keep the 19th century feel of the novel and I think The Butterfly Club has allowed us to do that. The Yellow Wave at its foundation is quite a xenophobic and racist piece of literature, so we have taken the 400-page novel and put it into a 70-minute action-packed show where we make fun with, not of, Kenneth Mackay’s novel.

What do you hope to achieve with The Yellow Wave?
The Yellow Wave is my contribution to the ongoing conversation about diversity.

In The Yellow Wave, just two actors (John Marc Desengano and “The Librarian’s” Keith Brocket), accompanied by a narrator (Andrea McCannon) share the stage to play over 20 characters! Was it difficult to cast actors into these roles?
Keith and John have been with us on this production for the last five years, they’ve been here from the very start. They have a great chemistry or ‘bromance’ and do a great job with the virtuosity of this production. There are two great lies about non-white actors; one is their plasticity. People often think non-white actors are not believable. The other is their ability as actors. Keith and John defy these common misconceptions on stage. They are both non-white actors telling a racist story, cracking jokes you can’t really tell if you’re white. In this production, they play men both men and women of a number of races.

What is the most rewarding part about directing theatre?
I think it’s getting the engagement of the audience and working with great actors.

What is it that draws you to direct a show?
For me it is simple, the project must have resonance.

The Yellow Wave will premiere at The Poppy Seed Festival, can you tell me a bit about that?
The Poppy Seed festival is a new theatre festival where artists, individuals or companies submitted a proposal for a theatrical production. Four entries were selected and provided with financial, logistical, artistic and marketing support to bring their production to life and premiere it during the festival in November-December. It’s a great initiative and I hope it can continue after this year.

Anything else?
The Yellow Wave will be showing at The Butterfly Club which is a really beautiful venue with a great atmosphere. We are really enjoying our relationship with them.

See the Yellow Wave at the Butterfly Club from November 18-29. Tickets are $30 each or buy a Fourplay Pass for $100 to see all four shows of the Poppy Seed Festival.

The Yellow Wave
The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne
Wednesday November 18 – Sunday November 29
thebutterflyclub.com/show/the-yellow-wave


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