‘What’s the most Asian thing you do?’ was the opening question the host of Scenes from a Yellow Peril asked actor, Peter Wood. Wood stumbled, fretting for answer. These unscripted interviews opened the show: questions that ranged from inane to provocative, intriguing to silly.
They set the scene, cleverly inviting us to close the gap between the stage and our own world, before launching us into the anguish and heartfelt rage of the play’s Chinese/Aotearoa New Zealand playwright, Nathan Joe. It was a play that explored structural and systemic racism to great effect.
Scenes from a Yellow Peril featured Peter Wood, Jazz Zhao, Daphne Chen and Chris Nguyen. The cast moved through a kaleidoscope of scenes, engaging with variegated shades of anti-Asian racism. The four oscillated across working as a chorus, in groups of two or three, and as individuals delivering monologues or testimony.
The pacing of the show was embodied in their performances through voice, choreography and physicality. There was minimal staging; the actors were served by sound and video design. This sonic landscape offered depth and height to the testimony, highlighting moments of vulnerability, grief and rage.
Soundscaping and choreography supported their shifts in tone and movement. The video scaffolded scenes by offering visual cues or scripts for the audience to follow. As one became increasingly less sure of what to expect next, tension mounted.
Humour, both in the writing and in the performances, was embedded throughout. Relieving the weight of pathos with irreverence meant that when the punches came, they landed. The theatrical elements were expertly pulled upon by the co-directors in a way that resisted didacticism while still managing to tell it like it is.
When the screen had no video playing on it, it hung above the stage facing the audience like the shard of a mirror. A shard that cuts, a shard that reflects – Scenes from a Yellow Peril gave us back the world that continues to be terrifyingly shaped by the legacies of colonialism and racism and asked, ‘Are you really OK with this?’
Read: Annie review: an orphan captures hearts on Australian stages
Scenes from a Yellow Peril, as co-directed and produced by Egan Sun-Bin and Chelsea August, blistered with tight choreography and moved at a pace that refused to slacken. It was a production that showed you all the ways in which a community can be wounded, loved and celebrated.
Scenes from a Yellow Peril, by Nathan Joe
Cremorne Theatre, QPAC
Co-Director/Producer: Chelsea August
Co-Director/Producer: Egan Sun-Bin
Associate Producer: Jess Bunz
Set Designer: Alex Riley
Costume Designer: Frances Foo
Sound Designer: Emma Burchell
Lighting Designer: Briana Clark
Video Designer: Imperfect Creatives
Stage and Production Manager: Petria Leong
Cultural Safety Consultant: Katrina Irawati Graham
Cast: Daphne Chen, Chris Nguyen, Peter Wood and Jazz Zhao
Scenes of a Yellow Peril was performed 3-12 July 2025.
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