Post by @federicabalbi

Seen at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 15^th of August 2024

4 stars – impactful and fundamental

China Doll is an East Asian looking actress. While dreaming of playing the roles of Anna May Wong, Hollywood’s first Chinese American star, she is also employed in Susie’s laundromat.

The protagonist faces constant frustration at auditions. The masseuse, the exotic companion of a man, the nerd student, the martial artist… Those are the roles she is likely to be cast for in films. Although she reveres her heroin Anna May Wong and is inspired by her, she feels anger at her for accepting roles that pigeonholed actresses coming after her.

In this performance, the talented actress and writer Diana Feng shows what it means to look East Asian in the film industry, bringing out in the open the racist dynamics that pervade the casting process and the representation of East Asian women on camera. In this articulate and balanced composition, other forms of racism also impact the character’s life in tangible ways, from hate attacks to internalised prejudices that affect personal relationships. In this play, directed by Francesca Hsieh and produced by WWWC, we can grasp some of the complexity of Diana Feng’s insightful and nuanced reflection on this theme, which is also her PhD research topic.

The simple, spot-on scenography concept supports the narrative in a clever way. Even if the show suffers from the absence of a projector in its Edinburgh Fringe run, it is very enjoyable. Particularly with respect to the themes it brings up, Don’t Call Me China Doll is definitely the kind of show of which we need more.

31^st July – 26^th August; 12.55 pm

Running time: 60 minutes

Venue: Underbelly Bristo Square

Tickets and Info: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/don-t-call-me-china-doll

Company Website: https://www.wwwc.uk/dont-call-me-china-doll

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wwwc_uk/