ALT B: Twisted Roots Festival

About

Over two nights, seven British East and Southeast Asian (BESEA) artists will showcase work-in-progress extracts, a result of their involvement in New Earth Theatre’s 30th Anniversary Incubator.

All pieces incorporate an ESEA heritage performance artform into a contemporary British theatre context. They have been developed in collaboration with seven venues across the country to provide this cohort of BESEA artists with support to develop their practice.

All pieces are 15 – 20 minute work-in-progress extracts after a week of Research and Development.

3 September

Mahsuri
By Alisha + Alysha 

Inspired by the Legend of Mahsuri — a woman cursed and immortalised in Malaysian folklore — this project uses Wayang Kulit (Malaysian shadow puppetry), AI and audience interaction to glitch colonial memory and rewrite history in real-time. Audiences aren’t spectators — they’re players inside a living system.

Drifting 漂浮’
By Phoebe Shu-Ching Chan 

This will be a contemporary theatre piece that reimagines the ancient Chinese myth ‘Pangu Creates Heaven and Earth’ through Chi Gong, also known as Qigong, and fabric.

Not That Asian
By Lumen Hirata Smith, Georgia Murphy, Isabella So

A first-generation and second-generation immigrant duo dive into an autobiographical clowning musical. Dual heritage clowns Lumen and Isabella have always felt not enough. Not Japanese enough, not Korean enough, not Asian enough.  Bear witness to second generation immigrant Lumens attempts at reconnecting themselves to their Japanese heritage through Rakugo storytelling, food making and the not-so-ancient art of Karaoke.

Ah Ma and Louise
By Jasmine and Peiyao 

Ah Ma and Louise(working title) reimagines a 2024 racial riot through the lens of two women from different social classes. Blending protest choreography, memory work, and shadow puppetry, it asks how memory and resistance echo across time and generations, inviting audiences to witness the marginalized group who are often overlooked.

4 September

Akutagawa
By Rouge28 Theatre (Aya Nakamura & Paul Piris)

Akutagawa fuses Japanese and British heritage art forms—Kamishibai and Toy Theatre—with live video projections to create what we call ‘Live Manga’. We weave several stories by celebrated Japanese modern writer Akutagawa into a single narrative, following a flawed man through multiple reincarnated lives.

Pamana
By CROSSROADS 

Through traditional Filipino dance and elements of Pinoy folklore, we’re exploring connection to heritage in the diaspora. We use dance as a bridge: between reality and supernatural, body and soul, and Britain and the Philippines. It’s also about the role imagination plays when connecting to your motherland from a distance.

Dragon Boiz

The showcase will be a celebration of Asian masculinity in the best way possible. We have many group acts that are dynamic, energetic, thought provoking and ultimately very entertaining to watch. You’re in for a treat!