performer

Last chance EVER to see Bound Feet Blues this week

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

As we enter the last week of Bound Feet Blues, this is your last chance EVER to catch the show. Writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi has no plans to take the show on tour or revive it in the future as she will be moving on to other creative projects once the show ends.

There’ve been several SOLD OUT nights and people have been queuing for returns for previous shows. The last night 12 December is almost sold out.

If you haven’t already seen this astonishing show, make sure you get your tickets NOW to the last few performances this week – extra availability on Thurs 10th and Fri 11 December.

** Bound Feet Blues is NOW ON  at the Tristan Bates Theatre until Sat 12 December 2015. Don’t miss this “mesmerising” and “powerful” show – buy tickets below or via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Don’t take our word for it – here is what some audiences last week have said about Bound Feet Blues:

“Stirring, thought provoking, informative, deeply moving, sprinkled with touches of humour this performance is well worth seeing!”
“A great performance … Brilliant!”
“Spent a wonderful evening seeing Yang-May’s stunning show Bound Feet Blues, a solo show about identity and the many paths and footsteps that lead to that identity. Utterly spellbinding and moving, I left feel completely inspired and empowered. Can’t recommend this enough!”

 

 

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BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Yang-May Ooi talks toes, feet – and bras! – with Jo Good on BBC London #BoundFeetBlues

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Writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi returned to the BBC London Studio again to talk with Jo Good, one year on from her previous appearance on Jo’s show. Their conversation takes in Yang-May’s versatile toes, bras and the psychology behind the brutal practice of footbinding as depicted in Bound Feet Blues.

** Bound Feet Blues is NOW ON  at the Tristan Bates Theatre until Sat 12 December 2015. Don’t miss this “mesmerising” and “powerful” show – buy tickets below or via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

You can listen again by clicking on the image below:

jogoodcomposite

OR via this link

Yang-May Ooi with Jo Good, BBC London 27 Nov 2015

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BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

 

The Stage describes Bound Feet Blues as a “warm, genuine narrative”

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

The Stage has called Bound Feet Blues a “warm, genuine narrative” in a terrific review of this solo show by writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi.

Some snippets from the review:

“very clever and subtle and captures the attention”

“Yang-May Ooi, barefoot and dressed in black, has a calming presence and tells her story – and that of her female ancestors – with animation and humour.”

** Bound Feet Blues is NOW ON  at the Tristan Bates Theatre until Sat 12 December 2015. Don’t miss this “mesmerising” and “powerful” show – buy tickets below or via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

You can read the full review of Bound Feet Blues by The Stage via the links below.

Review of Bound Feet Blues in The Stage – “a warm, genuine narrative”  ¦ 26 Nov 2015 ¦ download the pdf

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BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Local author Yang-May Ooi talks to Dulwich OnView about Bound Feet Blues – now on at Tristan Bates Theatre

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Dulwich OnView, the online magazine celebrating all things Dulwich and South East London interviewed writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi about Bound Feet Blues and the shows relevance for modern women today. Yang-May also shares her stories about the role of fashion and shoes in her life.

** Bound Feet Blues is NOW ON  at the Tristan Bates Theatre until Sat 12 December 2015. Don’t miss this “mesmerising” and “powerful” show – buy tickets below or via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

To read the full article, click on the image below…

dov screenshot

Dulwich OnView magazine celebrates the people and culture of Dulwich and the surrounding areas of South East London.

The magazine came about when a group of us, who love the Dulwich area and Continue reading →

Bound Feet Blues opens tonight for 3 weeks – Buy tickets here!

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi and the creative team are at the theatre right now working on the final preparations for opening night tonight. There is the final dress rehearsal, the technical lighting run through and making sure the set is just right.

Then, finally, after almost of a year of preparation, Bound Feet Blues will open as a full production tonight at 7.30pm at Tristan Bates Theatre for a 3 week run. The house lights will go down and as a haunting fusion ballad of East and West plays, Yang-May will step onto the stage to perform the work she wrote almost two years ago….

Have you got your tickets yet?

Go to the bottom of this page for the link to the box office or go straight to buy tickets via bit.ly/bfbtickets

There’s still an outside chance that there will be tickets left for opening night tonight – but if not, the show runs for 3 weeks to 12 Dec. So there’s still time to get your tickets to catch this extra-ordinary solo show.

Watch the highlights from the showcase performance in Oct last year:

 

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BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Meet Bound Feet Blues Q&A chair Beverley Glick (27 November 2015)

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

There are 3 Q&A sessions taking place during the Bound Feet Blues three week run. The first one will take place after the show on Friday 27 November 2015. We are delighted to welcome back Beverley Glick to chair this first Q&A of the full production. Beverley was our Q&A host for the showcase in October last year and steered us through the evening with quiet warmth. This first Q&A is going to be engaging and discursive with her in the chair again. So please do come and join us on Friday 27 November to see the show and take part in the discussion afterwards with Beverley, writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi and director Jessica Higgs.

Beverley Glick

Beverley Glick has been a professional storyteller for 35 years – first as a music journalist and pop magazine editor and subsequently in a variety of roles on national newspapers. In recent years she trained as a presence-based coach and now help individuals and business owners dig for the personal stories that will change their lives and change the world. She is also a public speaking coach, co-host a live storytelling event (thestoryparty.co.uk) and the author of Dig for the Story in Your Soul – #StoryWisdom to help you author an authentic life (out now on Amazon).

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BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Yang-May Ooi on Resonance FM’s Out in South London talking about Bound Feet Blues with Rosie Wilby

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Writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi dropped into the Out in South London studio at Resonance FM earlier this week to talk to Rosie Wilby about Bound Feet Blues, the show and the book. Bound Feet Blues may be about bound feet but it is also Yang-May’s coming out story – and Yang-May chats to Rosie about the metaphor of binding and restriction in the show and how it relates to her emerging lesbian identity. They also talk about friendship and falling in love… of course!

To listen to the conversation with Yang-May, click on the image below:

resonance screenshot

OR click here to launch the audio player

You can also listen to the whole show via the Out in South London Listen Again page for 17 November 2015.

Out in South London

Out In South London is a weekly LGBT radio show on Resonance 104.4FM that goes out live every Tuesday at 6.30pm. It is devised and presented by comedian Rosie Wilby and jointly produced by Rosie Wilby and Sabine Schereck.

Out in South London started as a monthly show on South City Radio in Peckham in December 2008. Rosie was inspired by shows like Out This Week on Radio 5 Live in the 1990s, where she once worked as a trainee reporter. The show transferred to Resonance 104.4FM in late 2009.

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BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Photos and Write Up from Papergang Theatre’s Echo Night at the Bush Theatre – incl Bound Feet Blues extract

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi was invited to perform an extract of Bound Feet Blues at the Echo event of East Asian performers at the Bush Theatre, hosted by Papergang Theatre back in October. Here are some photos from the night – and also a write up by Papergang on their blog.

Yang-May writes: “It was great fun – and also a privilege to be performing alongside so many talented East Asian artists. Thank you to Papergang Theatre for inviting me to show an extract from Bound Feet Blues. The audience were warm and enthusiastic – some of them said the character of my Mum that I played reminded them of their old aunties from Malaysia! I am delighted!”

With the other performers on the night, and Papergang Theatre founders Simon Ly and Clarissa Wylde (extreme left) Photo credit: Papergang Theatre

Performing “Some Enchanted Evening” extract from Bound Feet Blues

 

Team BFB L – R: producer Eldarin Yeong, director Jessica Higgs, writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi

For a write up of the evening, check out Papergang Theatre’s blog post “Echo at the Bush”:

“Tuesday 20th of October, saw our first collaboration with the Bush Theatre, a new writing and storytelling event ECHO. We showcased an evening with Continue reading →

What LGBTQ stories can teach the world [video] – interview with Yang-May Ooi, writer and performer of Bound Feet Blues

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Yang-May Ooi, writer/ performer of Bound Feet Blues, talks about what LGBTQ stories – and esp lesbian stories – can teach the wold about the universal human experiences of love, courage and heroism.

Bound Feet Blues is about more than bound feet. The brutal practice of footbinding in ancient China is a metaphor in the show for the cultural norms that bind us – as women and also in terms of our individual sexuality. An integral part of Continue reading →

For National Coming Out Day, read a FREE extract from Yang-May Ooi’s coming out story as told in her memoir Bound Feet Blues, the book

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

To celebrate National Coming Out Day tomorrow, Sunday 11 Oct, writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi shares an extract from her memoir Bound Feet Blues – A Life Told in Shoes, the book that is inspired by her solo theatre piece of the same name. Bound Feet Blues is as much about Yang-May’s journey to discovering her sexual identity as it is the story of the women in her family. 

Here is the extract from the chapter entitled “Biker Boots” from the book, Bound Feet Blues:

Coming out is a rite of passage.

In the world of debutantes and high society, it is an ancient tradition going back generations. When a young woman comes of age, she is invited to a coming out ball to introduce her to society – and  in the aristocratic classes in Britain, to present her to the monarch. It is her “debut” into the world as an adult – or, rather, as a fertile virgin of a marriagable age. This custom continues to this day among the elite not just in Britain but also, surprisingly, in the ideally classless societies of Australia and the United States.

The coming out ball is the moment when high society gathers to view the future of their dynasties. Debutantes customarily wear white ball gowns, sometimes with long white Cinderella gloves and sometimes with tiaras or both.  If you Google images of  “debutante ball coming out”, you will see that the styles of the ball dresses have changed little since Victorian times and often the young women are indistinguishable from each other in their demure, beautiful uniforms. The eligible young bachelors gather round them in white tie and tails and suddenly, we are back in the world of Jane Austen and Downton Abbey and fairy tale princesses.

For a young woman in that society, to come out is to emerge from Continue reading →