story performance

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

~~

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 **

Tickets now available for Bound Feet Blues full production – Nov/ Dec 2015

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

 

I am pleased to announce that tickets are now available for the full production of Bound Feet Blues which will return to the Tristan Bates Theatre in the heart of the West End in Nov/ Dec this year.

The showcase performance last year was sold out two months in advance. For the upcoming full production run, there are only 12 public performances so please do get your tickets soon to avoid missing out again.

What the critics said:

Everything Theatre Everything Theatre, UK

This theatre review site which bills itself as the  “honest and unpretentious guide to the London theatre scene”, gave Bound Feet Blues a 4 star review (out of 5). It described the show as “Engaging, eye-opening, funny and moving” and summed it up in one word: “Excellent” Read Hanna Gilbert’s review: Bound Feet Blues – A Life Told in Shoes, Tristan Bates Theatre. (16 Oct 2014)

 

The Public Reviews  The Public Reviews, UK

The theatre review online magazine The Public Reviews gave Bound Feet Blues a 4.5 star rating (out of 5 stars) and described the show as “powerful” and “beautifully performed and directed”. Read the review by Nichola Daunton:  “Bound Feet Blues – A Life Told in Shoes – Tristan Bates Theatre” (14 Oct 2014).

 

BUY TICKETS NOW

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

Tristan Bates Theatre – 1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP
Box Office 020 7240 6283
boxoffice@tristanbatestheatre.co.uk

 

Researching the history of the iconic cheongsam, the Chinese traditional dress

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

On this wet Sunday afternoon, I am feeling very sorry for myself – laid up with a cold – but I am distracting myself by researching the history of the the cheongsam for Bound Feet Blues, The Book.


What I am learning is that clothing has national and political significance. The cheongsam originated with Manchu rule in China when the Manchurians from the North East overthrew the Ming Dynasty in 1644. They required all men to wear their hair in a plait – known as a queue – and everyone had to wear clothing in the Manchu style: with the high collar and side buttons. Those who defied this requirement could be punished by death. It was a way of dominating the Continue reading →

What do bound feet have in common with a lesbian thriller?

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

My solo show Bound Feet Blues asks the question: how do we as individuals, and as women, live authentic lives true to ourselves within a dominant culture that seeks to control our bodies and our spirit? Foot binding in ancient China broke a woman’s body physically – but also broke her spirit over the course of the many years it would take to create the perfect tiny foot. What dominant cultural traditions in our modern era play a similar controlling role in who and what we can be?

I’ve just received the proofs of the e-book of my second novel, Mindgame, the first and only lesbian Malaysian thriller. It is soon to be re-issued by Monsoon Books and I am now reading through the proofs – all 450+ pages of the book – to check it before publication. On re-reading the book, I see that this same theme that I explore in Bound Feet Blues also Continue reading →

How does a woman with bound feet “run away” from her family?

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

How does a woman with bound feet “run away” from her family?

This is the question that has haunted me ever since I was a child when I heard the story of my great-grandmother who had bound feet.

 

Photo:<!--###IMAGE_BRIEF###-->

Here is the story that has been passed down in my family, which I pieced together from different family members:

Great-grandfather was a hospital orderly in Taiping (a small town in Perak in Malaysia) when he came across a young woman with bound feet who Continue reading →

Imagine a grown woman with baby feet

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

It’s difficult for us in the modern world to imagine how small bound feet were. Whenever I say to people that some of the smallest bound feet were only 3 inches long, they register that that is small but it’s only when they see exactly how small 3 inches is, that the horror of it hits them.

In order to illustrate how tiny bound feet were for “Breaking Tradition”, my award-winning talk inspired by the stories in Bound Feet Blues, I went online to order a pair of baby shoes. I searched and searched for baby shoes that were 3 inches long but the smallest size that I could find came to just over 4 inches.

The photo above shows me holding those 4+ inch baby shoes during Continue reading →

Bound Feet Blues secures Arts Council Funding

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

I am so excited that the Arts Council has granted funding for the development of Bound Feet Blues!

The funding enables us – my director Jessica Higgs and me – to work on the creation of the performance and explore the most meaningful way that the story can be brought to life on stage. Our work in progress will culminate in the showcase performance at the Tristan Bates Theatre in Oct – show details below.

One condition of the funding is that the Arts Council logo or an acknowledgement to the public funding they are giving us must appear wherever Bound Feet Blues is mentioned.  For me, it feels a privilege to be able to display their logo alongside this project – their support is a public recognition of my transition as Continue reading →

Why I love this pair of battered biker boots

/ Yang-May Ooi / 5 Comments

I’ve been blogging a lot about high heels recently and in particular, my efforts to recreate a swaying, high heeled walk for a scene in Bound Feet Blues.

To give you a contrast – and especially to show you who I am now, here is a photo of the kind of footwear that I stride around in these days.

This is the pair of biker boots that I wear most often in my daily life. They are now a bit beaten up and grungy looking. But I love them because they are the most comfortable pair of boots I have at the moment.

I love the way that they make me feel a bit tough, especially with the two strapped buckles on the side. If you know me, you know that I’m really a softy and not much of a hard-ass biker chick at all – but it gives me a kick (ha ha) to stomp around in these boots that make me feel as if I could win any bar brawl…

For me, the shoes or boots that I wear can really affect Continue reading →

Bound Feet Blues strides into London’s West End

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

I am super excited to report that we are taking Bound Feet Blues to London’s West End for a showcase performance in October!

I will be performing the full 75 mins version – for one night only – as a work-in-progress showcase at the Tristan Bates Theatre on Mon 13 Oct 2014 @8pm. This will present the full story, building on the draft extract that I tried out at Conway Hall in March and will take the piece to its full conclusion.

If you came along Conway Hall, you saw the piece end with me on my knees in defeat, with my heart as Continue reading →

My story performance Bound Feet Blues is a way in to talking about contemporary feminist issues

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

I  workshopped Bound Feet Blues at The Centre for Solo Performance with 6 other solo performers and two facilitators. What was fascinating was that after my piece ended, in addition to giving me feedback on my performance and the structure of the script, the others in the group started talking about contemporary issues of body modification, body mutilation, the outward signifiers of feminity and masculinity and the eroticization of different part of our bodies in different cultures and times.

The facilitator had to interrupt the animated discussion to bring Continue reading →