East and Southeast Asian Heritage Month: Championing Representation in the West End
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This September, we’re supporting East and Southeast Asian Heritage Month, with this year’s theme, **Evolving Threads**. Throughout the month, we’re shining a light on the people helping to shape a more representative theatre industry, from casting and performers to the technical teams working behind the scenes.
For this feature, we spoke to members of *Jesus Christ Superstar*, Disney’s *The Lion King* and RepresentAsian about their experiences within the industry, the importance of seeing people from ESEA backgrounds represented, and why creating opportunities beyond the stage matters.
### **Desmonda Cathabel and Matty J: “This is a very multicultural production of Jesus Christ Superstar”**
Desmonda Cathabel, who plays Mary Magdalene in [*Jesus Christ Superstar*](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/jesus-christ-superstar-drury-lane-tickets), has been working in the UK musical theatre industry for about four years. When she arrived, she says she didn’t see Indonesian performers represented commercially on the musical theatre stage.
*“When I moved here, I didn't see a single Indonesian that's on stage in musical theatre, but one of my biggest inspirations was Lea SalongaThe 10th anniversary Les Mis video, and just Lea Salonga as Eponine is like, wow, like I can literally do that right now. I can do that right now because Lea Salonga did it. Suddenly it’s a given for us to be on stage.”*
For Desmonda, seeing performers who share her heritage can make possibilities feel much more tangible. She also highlights the importance of seeing a wider range of Asian characters and performers represented:
*“Of the Asian roles are usually the ingenue, young love interest. We don't really see a lot of older Asian women. If you think about a Sondheim leading lady, where's the Asian women? We’ve not even torched the topic of casting Asian men because there's still the stereotype of, like, Asian men are not masculine unless you have, like, some sort of, like Eurocentric features.”*
Matty J, who plays Annas, is originally from Indonesia and is in his first year of musical theatre. Together, they describe *Jesus Christ Superstar* as a production that reflects the diversity of London:
*“This is a very multicultural production of Jesus Christ Superstar. It reflects the reality of London. It just normalizes it, and it doesn't kind of fits any of us into, like, a certain box.”*
### **Kat Cruz from Disney’s The Lion King: “Anything’s possible”**
Representation isn’t only about who audiences see on stage. Kat Cruz, Deputy Head of Stage at [Disney’s ](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/the-lion-king-tickets)[*The Lion King*](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/the-lion-king-tickets)[,](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/the-lion-king-tickets) spoke to us about the importance of making technical and backstage careers accessible to people from ESEA backgrounds.
Having worked on *The Lion King* around the world, Kat recalled meeting a young woman in the Philippines who had been told she couldn’t work on a crew because she was too small.
*“Someone is not allowed to tell you that you can't do it. And also, yes, you are small, but when we work there, we're using motors now as opposed to manually flying things out. Everything is more accessible. Everything is much safer for the performers and backstage. If you get trained and you know how to handle things, you can do it. Anyone can do it. That's what I would say: one, don't let anyone tell you no, and two, anything's possible.”*
Kat says seeing greater diversity across technical teams is particularly meaningful:
*“Oh my God, I'm so proud, and every day I come in and I'm grateful to be in this environment where it's obviously diverse on stage, but also now we're seeing more diversity in the technical teams, which is just, yeah, it's amazing. It's empowering. It's great, especially for a woman and a woman of colour as well.”*
She adds:
*“It's important that people like us who are backstage and people of Asian heritage, we are there and we are representing and we are being seen.”*
### **Ben Armstrong from RepresentAsian: “I didn't really see myself on stages”**
For [RepresentAsian](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/concert/representasian-an-evening-of-asian-talent-tickets), an organisation championing greater diversity in casting, the need for change was rooted in what was missing from the West End. Founder and Casting Director, Ben Armstrong says:
*“There was a lack of diversity in the West End, and I didn't really see myself on stages in, you know, these universal stories. So I thought maybe casting might be something interesting to educate the industry on what shows could look like and really champion actors from underrepresented backgrounds. And that's really where RepresentAsian was founded as well.”*
Ben also highlights the impact of established performers paving the way for the next generation. Speaking about Nina Wadia, Ben recalled her reflection on what representation could have meant earlier in her career:
*“It's amazing because Nina was someone that I watched when I was a kid on TV. She's such a pillar in this industry for Asian representation. You know, she said in the concert last year, If I had this when I was younger, my career would have been so different. *
And perhaps that is at the heart of ESEA Heritage Month’s Evolving Threads theme: the connections between generations, communities and opportunities. From performers and casting to the technical teams working backstage, representation can help make the next generation’s ambitions feel possible — and show them that there is a place for them in theatre.
Alongside *Jesus Christ Superstar*, *The Lion King* and *RepresentAsian*, our wider ESEA Heritage Month project will feature voices from shows including [*Hadestown*](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/hadestown-tickets) and [*My Neighbour Totoro*](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/my-neighbour-totoro-tickets)[,](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/my-neighbour-totoro-tickets) exploring even more experiences and perspectives from across the theatre industry, find the [full series on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/londontheatredirect).