SIZE OF COMPANY
10–12 on the road

SCALE OF VENUE
Small to medium

PERMANENT STAFF
Co-artistic Directors
Philippe Cherbonnier
Jonathan Man
General Manager
Susannah Kraft
Education Associate
Kumiko Mendl
Administrator
Ann Cross

ARTISTIC POLICY
Yellow Earth tours ensemble, text-based physical work using the traditions of East and West. The company develops new work including live art and site-specific events, promoting East Asian artists through the Typhoon Festival and training the next generation of British East Asian artists through Yellow Ink (for writers) and Yellow Stage (for directors). The company stimulates, engages, and nurtures the arts involvement of the East Asian community through a variety of outreach initiatives, and fast-tracks development through a ladder of opportunity.

REVIEW EXTRACTS
Intriguing, inventive piece of theatre.
The Times
In the RSC’s complete works festival, this gem of a piece stands out.
The Stage (King Lear)
These episodes are impressively executed in David Tse Ka-Shing’s production, using traditional Chinese opera techniques…a laudably ambitious project aiming to fuse east and west, traditional and contemporary.
Financial Times (Running the Silk Road)

FUTURE PRODUCTIONS
Forty Minutes from the Back by Seigo Hatasawa, trans by Tsuyoshi Kondo (Japan)
On a dark night, a mysterious stranger checks into a remote spa hotel overlooking a cliff top. He orders an expensive meal, a massage, and waits impatiently for his illicit date. A moving story of despair, connection and hope.
Cast: 4 + crew
To tour autumn 2009 as a double bill with Pathological Happiness (*to be confirmed)
Pathological Happiness by Kazuko Hohki (Yellow Voices, UK in partnership with Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Soho Theatre and the Young Vic)
Alone in her lab, a Japanese pathologist Maiko encounters a talking cell which declares its love for her. A naked man, cloned from the same cell, steps out from the incubator and an unusual love triangle begins.
Cast: 3 + crew
To tour autumn 2009 as a double bill with Forty Minutes from the Back (*to be confirmed)

WRAP-AROUND
Outline
Yellow Earth's extensive Education and Outreach work ranges from devising bilingual projects with festivals and community groups to school workshops and residencies for storytelling, drama, music and dance.  Through our work we aim to encourage cross-cultural exchange and understanding through the performing arts, celebrating all aspects of diversity.
Youth Theatre
Yellow Earth is committed to creating a new East Asian Youth Theatre and is now in the process of setting one up. To register your interest please send an email to education@yellowearth.org.uk stating your name, age and your interests and we will keep you informed of the latest developments.
Year round workshops
We offer a variety of workshops suitable for primary and secondary schools. Our workshops for schools specialise in a multi-disciplinary theatrical approach to Chinese arts. Using traditional Chinese artforms such as Beijing Opera, papercutting, shadow puppetry and Chinese stories and myths, these artforms and stories are introduced to children in an accessible and fun way, creating a unique learning experience.
Productions
Workshops are available on all our productions and are led by Yellow Earth’s Education Associate. We set up the workshops in conjunction with the theatre, school or college, and the content is planned working closely with the staff at the school and the Education Dept. in the theatre. We offer both half day and full day workshops, and they usually take place at a time prior to the performance. The size of the groups can vary, depending on the nature of the production and the age of the participants. We may also run performance projects with students related to the themes and/or styles of the production with a chance to showcase as a curtain raiser before our main house production (see Silk Web)
Education packs
The workshops are closely linked to the production, and there is teaching material available for the education staff.
Post-show discussions: Yellow Earth company members are always keen to take part in post-show discussions at venues. These provide an open forum for questions and answers in an informal setting, allowing audiences a greater insight into the process of making Yellow Earth’s work.
Current Work
Silk Web continues over the next 4 years working with young London based Chinese and British students of Mandarin co-creating scenes and plays on the web with their counterparts in Beijing leading up to the Olympic Games in 2012.

RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2006 China: King Lear
2005 China/Hong Kong: The Nightingale