Company News

November 2004 - Mu-Lan stops producing work

Mu-Lan's Board of Directors took the decision to wind up the Company this month. The Company will officially be dissolved from 31 January 2005. Without support from the Arts Council, this decision was inevitable. Artistic Director Paul Courtenay Hyu was typically blunt about the decision. "Blame the Arts Council. If we had followed their advice we would be doing plays that no-one wants to watch in a style that no one likes. They are responsible for the closure of Mu-Lan for not having the capacity to comprehend that British Asiatic theatrical creativity does not have to be marginalised in the way that they are trying to make it. A great many people liked what we produced and, in spite of the Arts Council's advice, we leave a legacy of innovative ideas, excellent ground-breaking productions and critical acclaim, which has yet to be matched by any other similar theatre company. Mu-Lan pioneered support for New Writing, which other theatre companies are only now starting to pay attention to. Mu-Lan was brave and ruffled feathers in the polite corridors of power among the funders. They did not like me personally and I am proud of that fact. I am proud to be associated with Mu-Lan and all its achievements and I wish others good luck in continuing what we have started."

April 2004 Sun is Shining Off Broadway

Mu-Lan's explosive production Sun is Shining featured in Time Out Critics' Choice lists for both 2002 & 2003. This year the show has been invited to open Space B at the superb new 59E59 Theater, New York in their inaugural Brits Off Broadway season.

The production ran April 20th to May 9th 2004.

Click here for more details of Sun is Shining

March 2004 - "SWEET 'n'SOUR COMEDY

Broadcast dates have been set for transmission of this pilot, which yet again has been re-named.

Tuesday 24th March 11pm
Wednesday 24th March 1:35am
Wednesday 24th March 3:40am
Sunday 28th March 12:20am
Sunday 28th March 3:10am

Time Out's Critics' Choice for the day, we hope people will tune in to these rather obscure broadcast times and help push the project to series.

February 2004 - "SWEET'n'SOUR HALFHOUR"

Filming of this newly re-named sketch-show pilot took place during the 3rd week of February and featured Mu-Lan Frying Circus members Lobo Chan, Paul Chan, Michelle Lee, Su-Lin Looi and Matt Wilkinson. Paul Courtenay Hyu, Associate Producer, and Philippina stand-up comedienne Ria Lina complete the group's line-up along with Karen Taylor from TV's "The Sketch Show". The sketches were written by the actors and will be aired on BBC3 in the near future. Henry Normal of BabyCow, the production company he co-owns with Steve Coogan, is optimistic that a series will result from this; another first for British-Chinese representation on television and Mu-Lan.

January 2004 - THE MISSING CHINK

"The Missing Chink", a satirical examination in four episodes of the treatment of the Chinese in the British media, was aired on Channel 4 on the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd January 2004. A piece of television history, this unprecedented British-Chinese look at the state of affairs in the British media courted controversy. It featured Paul Chan and Paul Courtenay Hyu as Jerry Yin and George Yang - two confused young British-Chinese men working in a Takeaway. Written by Paul Courtenay Hyu and features appearances by Rory Underwood MBE, David Yip and Burt Kwouk and many other Mu-Lan stalwarts. The series peaked at 1.5 million viewers, far exceeding the normal 600,000 that C4's "The Slot" usually averages.

June 2003 - CHINESE TV SKETCH COMEDY

Frying Circus, the comedy sketch troupe created and directed by Paul Courtenay Hyu, is to be made into a pilot television show in the spring of 2004 by the Bafta Award-winning production company, Baby Cow Productions. Paul Courtenay Hyu took his idea to the company's director, Henry Normal, who co-owns the company with Steve Coogan, after working for them as an actor on "Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible".

"Henry Normal is a fantastic comedy writer (his writing credits include The Royle Family and Mrs Merton, to name a few). It was a pleasure and a privilege to have one-on-one script editing sessions with him", said Paul Courtenay Hyu. "I learned so much in the first session and after some time, we had produced a body of sketches that was acceptable to them. Baby Cow then pitched the idea and we heard recently that a pliot has now been greenlighted by BBC3. There is still a long way to go in terms of the writing journey and quantity of acceptable material if we were to go ahead and get a series, but the pilot is obviously good enough for Baby Cow and the BBC to put money into it - so we have made great progress. I feel like the Chinese Jerry Seinfeld"!

The title is about to change though, and after years of good service the name of "Frying Circus" is about to give way to something new. "We have two viable titles to choose between at the minute - I came up with "Ho Ho Fun", but Henry is keen on "Satay Night Live". We'll see who wins this epic power struggle!"

This pilot show will will provide work and welcome exposure for many British-Oriental performers and comedy writers. Finger's X'd that it progresses from pilot to fully-fledged series..... Paul Courtenay Hyu says, "I hope that the show will be a great success for our community in much the same way as "Goodness Gracious Me" has been for the Asian community. If so, I am keen for a cut of profits being ploughed back into Mu-Lan, without which this opportunity would never have arisen. This might help to sort out our funding crisis and make us independently able to produce the shows we want. In any event just getting to this stage is a huge achievement and I am very proud to have got us here".

November 2002

Recognition for the company

On 5th November 2002, Artistic Director Paul Courtenay Hyu attended the Theatre Museum, Covent Garden as one of the 5 shortlisted finalists for the Peter Brook Empty Space Award. His work for Mu-Lan has also been rewarded with a nomination in this year's Carlton Television Mulitcultural Achievement Awards, which event was broadcast in November 2002.

August 2002

Alternative funding falls through

The Sinclaire Trust, who had expressed an interest in picking up where London Arts left us, have recently decided against it . This is extremely bad news for the company, and coupled with the decision by Hampstead to postpone the mounting of Lilting to the Past until after the 1st season in their new building, (ie possibly 2004 at the earliest) this means the company will be in suspension until such time as a decision is made by the board to close the company for good or go out on one last bang. The last option is favoured by the Artistic Director, who is working on developing a one-man comedy show as well as trying to fulfil the commercial potential of "Frying Circus".

January 2002

Mu-Lan cut from April 2002 from London Arts Revenue

In January 2002 we were informed by London Arts that we will be cut from their revenue portfolio from April. This has come as quite a shock to us - not least because our grant was only £20,000 per year - and we have no idea at present what this really means for our future. With the (unparalleled in the world of British-Oriental theatre history) success of SUN IS SHINING at the Kings Head recently, this seems to be yet another example of personal politics in the arts world screwing the very people who produce the goods. They dont seem to like us - but we can't imagine why...maybe the answer can be gleaned from further reading of this article. We simply are at a loss...They even said at our de-briefing that, "the panel didn't even approve of the choice of play - Sun is Shining - for our next show"!!

Surely its up to us what we do? And surely now, we are vindicated?? London itself approved of the play, making it one of the must-see hits of the month and judging from the questionnaires filled in by the audience it seems that the audience could also see and appreciate its relevance to our artistic policy, especially regarding race. Something that the very white London Arts panel of experts obviously could not. When you consider that this play represented the first of a crop of new plays that we have been developing, with their blessing, I must add, it seems that there is something slightly amiss in the state of London Arts.

It seems incredible to say the least that Mu-Lan were not awarded a continuation of their revenue in light of all the work that has been undertaken in recent years on a tiny amount of subsidy. A quick flick to our past productions page will confirm that. It is as if there is only room for one Oriental Theatre Company and it was decreed that Mu-Lan were not to be it. We believe there should be room for both of our companies. But on artistic output and critical acclaim, we win the head-to-head, so why cut us?

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