Date of Interview: 14 August 2025
Interviewer: Robin Khor
Interviewee: Kwong Loke
ROBIN KHOR
Hello Kwong.
KWONG LOKE
Hello. Good morning.
ROBIN KHOR
Why don’t we just start with. You’re one of the co-founders. Obviously, we are all very interested to know how did New Earth Theatre or Yellow Earth Theatre back then begin in your own memory?
KWONG LOKE
Well, I think it started way before we started. I suppose the other founder members may share the same story, when we got together to do The Magic Paintbrush at Polka Theatre.
So we got together, had a great time, was a great success, and David Tse wrote the play, Vicky Ireland commissioned it, you know, at Polka Theatre. And for the first time we sort of knew each other, but not too well, well enough. But for the first time, five East Asian actors got together and we were doing something that really came from our heart, yes. But I think more significantly, it came from our own culture.
And, we contributed to the production, what we knew about the Chinese theatre movement, telling a Chinese story set in China. So that really felt like we were working, we were talking in one language for production. So with that sense of togetherness, we said, well, you know, we’ve worked together so well and so successfully, we really must carry on. So I think that’s the first seed of forming a theatre company, doing some work together.
ROBIN KHOR
So does it mean that before Magic Paintbrush, you have never felt like a sense of community in that sense of British theatre in your experience here?
KWONG LOKE
It was, that’s a really good question. There were things happening. Which was wonderful. But I think it’s quite disparate. There was another theatre company called Mulan, and so at least there was a voice and that was very nice. And David, David Tse, was also trying to do his own thing. And he was organising play readings, organising sort of little shows here and there and trying to get, there were very few of us, you know, so trying to get anyone who was available, you know, to come together.
And so we felt that there was a place for those of us who were trying to do theatre before The Magic Paintbrush, you know. And that’s how we got to know each other. I mean, because there were so few of us, we knew each other quite well. And Mulan then also did you know, a couple of productions which were very successful like The Magic Fundoshi at the Lyric Hammersmith and took it on tour.
And that’s all because Glen, Glen Goei, Singaporean, was very enterprising and he got some funding, you know, from, from the London Arts Board. Then it was called the London Arts Board, which was regional, you know, to London, part of the Arts Council. Yeah. So everybody I mean, we are talking about 35 years or something like that. So things have changed a lot.
ROBIN KHOR
So how has New Earth Theatre in this way shaped or influenced your personal or professional growth, knowing that you’re one of the co-founders as well? How long were you with the company again?
KWONG LOKE
Quite long. I mean, I think I left officially around 2006. So we are talking about ten years. So, how has it shaped my development as an actor and as a theatre maker? A lot, a lot, a lot.
I suppose, for myself. I come from a much broader spectrum. I’ve been interested in theatre for a long time, and so it’s broader than I say, just, you know, specific cultural forms of theatre. Although that’s part of my interest. And I’ve always done quite a lot of research and I am fascinated by East Asian theatre, especially Chinese theatre, you know, which is my cultural background.
But of course, Western theatre is how I was trained, all the techniques and Shakespeare and this, and that, you know, from drama school here in London. But at that time, I mean, we are talking about the mid 80s, when David actually graduated from drama school, and I graduated in 1990. At that time, there was very little work for us.
Of course, you see, any work you know would be welcomed. But the work out there really, I mean, they are looking for, ethnic specificity. And so, and there wasn’t a lot of it. So that’s all the professional work we could get really. And when we sort of create a work for ourselves, obviously the core was two things, really.
I mean, I suppose that we say, okay, we are part of British society, but we are culturally specific. So maybe it’s just really good to have a dialogue, you know, with the British public, theatre going public about who we are and what we can offer. And that’s one thing. And the other is that, this is where we are at our strongest, because it comes from our heart.
It comes from our instincts. It comes from our own background. Although, you know, some of us, I’m not born here, but some of us are. So we’re really British. But still, it’s British with a difference, you know, because you are British East Asian. So you have something which is different. So there are two sides to it, you know, both to the public and what work that we think we can best create and most want to create, you see.
And yet, you know, then just talk about myself, you know, sort of that is only part of my whole interest in theatre, you know, which is broader than that, you see. So, in terms of Yellow Earth, when we formed the company, how it helped with my development, is that I think it’s made me, it’s given me a lot of opportunities to practice my training, my, I don’t want to use the word art, okay? Not yet, my craft. That’s good. You know, from my training, you know, as an actor, as a theatre maker.
And it is crucial, I think, because there was the opportunity to put all that into practice. Because at the end of the day, whether it’s Greek tragedy, Shakespeare or a play about an East Asian family, it is about telling a story.
It is about telling a story to the best of your ability and to the highest creative standards, okay. So that’s common, you know, for all of that. Right. And so when we had the opportunity to practice our craft, you know, through a play about an East Asian family, let’s say, we are working, you know, we are acting, we are doing what we want to do.
And so with those opportunities, you get better, you get more experience and you begin to learn. It was a steep learning curve. And because at that time, also the call for diverse work is a niche interest, you know, it’s not the general public. And so it is hard. It was hard. But we soldiered on.
ROBIN KHOR
Do you have a production because you mentioned about, you get to practice your craft and all that. I think we must be very interested in knowing which production specifically you felt like your craftsmanship was really stretched to the max. Is there something that you want to share?
KWONG LOKE
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s, Rashomon. I think we did that in 2002, probably. I mean, we’ve done a few productions before, and they were all wonderful.
But Rashomon, for me, was a consolidation of many things. Five of us got together, you know, the five founding members, you know, and we said, okay, now it’s the time when we, let’s just think broader. Why don’t we act and direct in it? We said, great, you know, because I’d love to start learning how to direct.
And because Rashomon is a play, from three perspectives. Okay. So we each took a third, you know, a perspective. And we thought, okay. So we talked a lot about it, you know, which one would we like, you know, we would be drawn to, which perspective and so on, so forth. And it all worked out really well.
So I directed the first third, the perspective of the robber. And then David was the third one and Kumiko was the second one. I think, you know. I forget now, you know, either the second and third, but now. So I had the opportunity then, you know, that really first, in a very safe environment, working with fellow members of Yellow Earth whom I worked with, you know, for five years and whom I know really well to try my really first directing hand and be an actor for the other director.
Isn’t that amazing? And, then we have Philippe who wrote the script for us, and then we were very clear trying to make it as much an East Asian production as possible. So we had Kimie Nakano who’s Japanese and of course, Rashomon was Japanese, you know, to design for us, you see, for set and costume.
So everything really came together really, really well. And as directors, we needed a couple more actors. And so we were also learning to audition, you know, as well, you see. And then we saw other East Asian actors auditioning. And so it felt more and more an East Asian endeavor, adventure, product, call it that way.
You know, because all the elements we tried to bring in were East Asia. So that’s the production for me, is most edifying for my work as an actor. And, well, we all contributed in our own good ways. That’s also, that’s what’s wonderful. We use all our strengths. That’s the other thing. I mean, Tom is physically so wonderful.
So he led all the physical movement work and he put us through our paces. I tell you, we had an hour, an hour and a half every day doing physical exercises with him. And Tom, I don’t know whether, you know, I’m sure I’m not wrong in saying he was a gold medalist in some Chinese martial arts, martial championship in China, you see, and so he really knew what he was doing, and it was beautiful.
But he was putting that in the service of training us up to give us a vocabulary that we could use for the play, to create a physical vocabulary for the play. And it’s Japanese, you know, obviously. So then, we were looking at Japanese movements as well. What Tom had given us, you know, to that, you see, and Kumiko of Japanese heritage, you know, was able to then also help us a lot.
And we had Kazuko Hohki to join us, you know, and she’s Japanese, but she’s a great, you know, storyteller. And Kimie was Japanese, you know, so we have all these elements coming together and David, you know, had been directing. And so he’s a little bit more experienced than most of us, you know, as well. So he’s using those skills. So we all contributed through the production.
ROBIN KHOR
Because it’s about 5 or 6 years, close to ten years after the formation of Yellow Earth that you guys decided to do Rashomon. Do you think that Rashomon comes because there’s a gradual development of Yellow Earth’s work and the audience development that you felt ready, we can put on like a beast in front of…
KWONG LOKE
Totally, absolutely right. I think the very, very first production when we formed the company formally, maybe in ‘97 or something like that, the first production was a sort of minimal budget, minimal everything, you know, production, with Tom. And I think it’s about being a migrant, being away from your own host culture and how you long for home and so on, which is Hong Kong, etc.
I think we started with that. So it’s a very clear story. And then we went on to do slightly bigger and bigger things. Yes. Totally, totally. And in 1999 we had David Glass, which I’m sure Kumiko must have talked about. You know, Kumiko and I always say that is one of the best productions that we’ve ever up to today, you know, have been in, so David Glass, director of production of Blue Remembered Hills, which, of course, which is about English children in in an English forest, you know, in the forest of Dean.
But here we are with seven diverse actors, you know, playing those children, you see. So that was a slightly bigger and much more ambitious and much more sophisticated, a much more complex production with David Glass and then, you know, The Butcher’s Skin and so on and so forth. With all that, I think we got more confident, more solid.
This is again, you know, talking about how Yellow Earth had developed us because there were the opportunities. I think we were much more confident with our craft. Our craft has grown, has developed stronger, and we were clearer with our ideas. And although the heart has always, you know, is there. But now you’re saying, okay, you know, this is what I know and this is what I’ll try and this is, and then it looks good. I think, yeah, so yeah. You’re absolutely right.
ROBIN KHOR
Any surprising moments during rehearsal or performance process?
KWONG LOKE
I can never forget. Back to Rashomon really? Kazuko Hohki. And, I was in a scene with her, and I was a detective, you know, investigating a murder. And, so I suggested something. And Kazuko in her wonderful way, said “Good idea!” I can never forget that. It was so good. And the way she said it, you know, it was just wonderful. It was so unique. And I bring that up because I think everything is a good idea, whether you go along with it or not is another question. So I think that’s what’s important. And that’s why productions get made and that’s why artists get together to work. And we always should have ideas. And all ideas are good.
ROBIN KHOR
Now that we’ve talked about Rashomon and all that, you briefly mentioned a bit already about the casting opportunity when you first started, before you joined Yellow Earth and all that. So but once you guys started, you know, this challenge became more obvious because you are a company now where you’re trying to put on a show in a British majority white country. Is there a particular, you find like the industry challenges that is like walls or like gatekeeper that is?
KWONG LOKE
Well there were many challenges then, of course. And there are still many challenges now. And the challenges are different. Challenges have gone bigger or smaller, more, etc., etc.
Then, I mean, obviously we are a small voice and I think what’s really wonderful is with great foresight, the Arts Council, they were looking at, I think at that time, you know, greater diversity. And I think the black community has come up a lot by then, by the 90s, obviously, they started a lot earlier than us. And then the Asian community also is fairly known, let’s put it that way.
So it’s the East Asian community that is small and still needs to find a place. And the Arts Council was, was really talking to us and saying, okay, what do you need? We can help you, you know, apply for some funding. And one of the requirements was, which I think was a good thing, was to say, okay, we give you the funding, but you have to tour. We want you to take it out of London. Obviously you do a London show. You do the show in London and you tour, three places at least.
So challenges is that, we so I mean I often use this as an example. So one of the productions was The Butcher’s Skin, a Vietnamese play. It’s a fun play, really great. And an East Asian cast and five of us and we had to tour outside, right? And at that time, not many venues would take an East Asian company with a Vietnamese play, you know, or whatever play, Japanese play or whatever, right?
But there are some enlightened artistic directors, you know, in these small venues. We went up north and one of the places was Chipping Norton, which is just as white English, conservative English as you could get in the Cotswolds, right? And we had about 13 people in the audience. And I did ask one of them, I said, after the show, I said, you know, what made you come to this?
And it was an older gentleman with his wife. And he said, because we are interested. I said, that’s really nice. You know, I mean, all you need is one person to say that. So there was a call for a different voice, I think, and therefore the Arts Council, you know, had got it right to say, take it out, take it out. I mean, Manchester and Liverpool or I, you know, it might be the obvious, but if you going into the smaller places, that’s when I think you really begin to have a dialogue with the British public.
ROBIN KHOR
Can you tell, I mean, do you know anything that has changed, like over the years when you were in Yellow Earth or maybe talk about now that because you mentioned that a lot of smaller like, you know, you said Arts Council was offering funding for you guys to tour, but when you guys were looking for, partnership, many venues were not keen.
KWONG LOKE
Yeah, it was hard.
ROBIN KHOR
Has it changed over the years or like what was the, maybe, let us start from this. Like what was the feedback, if you remember anything, when they reject the proposal, did they say anything, were they very polite –
KWONG LOKE
Of course it was very polite, well, you know, we have programmed already, or it doesn’t quite fit with our season, you know, at the moment our please come back to us later. You get that sort of thing which you know, they’re not ready for it. And I suppose they think they’re not ready for it. And that’s why those venues that programmed us, and I think they’re saying, you know, Chipping Norton or a small little community center up North, you know, north of Newcastle, I’m talking about that far north, right? I mean, of course, they’re not ready for it, but they programmed it because then the positive feedback for that one is that we want this, we want diversity.
There’s a huge theatre in Wellingborough and the artistic director was a young man. And he said, no, we want you back again and again and again. I know, and I’ve only got this one big theatre space which seats 300 or something like that, and you’re going to get 30 in, don’t worry about it.
We did Rashomon there. We’re going to get 30. And the stage was huge. For what we had were like three mattresses as a stage set, right? You know what I mean? But he said no, no that’s it. You know, I get 30 in, I get 20 in, you know, then they see that there are other lives in this country.
So that’s that side. But the other is, the politeness, you know. But I must say, I mean, you know, we are talking about the late 1990s, early noughties. I must say that we did manage to string it all together, 5 or 6 places, north and south. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t bad. I mean, very small audiences. We had great fun. We had great fun. You know, it was grassroots theatre. You know, 5 of us traveling together like that, you see.
ROBIN KHOR
I don’t know, this is not a direct link, but like, you guys also toured to Singapore, Copenhagen and obviously these are different shows like, it must be really like, family-like.
KWONG LOKE
Totally, totally, exactly the same people. I mean, Singapore and Copenhagen were of course wonderful. it was a Polka production. Yellow Earth wasn’t big enough then yet. And yet the shows were also very appropriate for their festivals because it was The Magic Paintbrush that went to Singapore and it was The Snow Lion that went to Denmark.
So that was really nice as well. And yeah we traveled together as a group. Again you know, at that time there were so few of us, and when we worked together like that, it really felt family. Even if all the members of the company were not all original Yellow Earth, but that doesn’t matter. We were East Asians. There’s a bond there.
ROBIN KHOR
So most of the shows that you guys did were meant for touring, and then you would tour at least 3 to 4 –
KWONG LOKE
We had to, we had to per our grant remit and therefore when touring you have to think about the sets and all that and to make sure that you can fit into the back of a van.
ROBIN KHOR
The stage managers have to be very, very as creative as whatever you guys do on the stage.
KWONG LOKE
Absolutely. Yeah.
ROBIN KHOR
So Kwong, how long did you stay with Yellow Earth.
KWONG LOKE
And let me think. We formed the company about ‘95. So yeah. So, 10, 11 years. I left in 2006. I was invited to join another company. A Brazilian company, or rather, a company that does Brazilian work. So. Yeah, here you are. You know, another diverse company, which is great for me, having done a lot of East Asian work. As I said before, I’d like to be much broader, you know, in terms of theatre making. Yeah. 2006 at that time, David Tse, he was still artistic director. He had been artistic director there for quite a few years by then.
And I think he’s also beginning to think of, you know, winding down as well. Kumiko was still with us, so there were only just the three of us, actually. And Kumiko was still doing a lot of education and community work. So I left in 2006, and I think David was doing sort of fairly big, talking about trajectory again, you know, the productions got bigger and bigger, and I think David was touring Lear, you know, to China.
Then that leaves Kumiko and David. And then David was leaving. So obviously the board will have to find a replacement, you know, artistic director. Again, you know, this is 2006. There weren’t many East Asians, you know, either, who have the experience to run a company, by which time, you know, it’s, you know, well funded within small scale theatre.
And we have a place, I think in the theatre industry as well. But I didn’t think any East Asian had the experience to run it. And so they had joint artistic directors, Philippe Cherbonnier, who, you know, had been working with us a lot. I mean, he’s French, white French, and has been writing to us and his heart is in East Asian work, and Jonathan Man.
So they jointly took it on and they had a couple of years, I think. And Kumiko is still with them, and I think it hasn’t worked out that well, because I think being an artistic director is different from being a director. You have a lot of other responsibilities, than just being a director.
So that hadn’t worked out that well. And they were desperately searching for a replacement. And finally Kumiko, who had never thought of herself as an artistic director of leading a company, you know, she’s always thought of herself as a theatre maker, of doing educational work, which is where her heart is and so on and so forth. And she felt she couldn’t just let the company die. Because it would die, I think.
And having built it up, she sort of, bit the bullet and took on artistic directorship. I don’t think at that time she thought she had theatre leadership qualities as such, you see. And Kumiko is the warmest, most generous, most wonderful theatre practitioner. But then to go into meetings with the Arts Council, to go into meetings with artistic directors from other theatre companies.It’s a whole different ball game, you know, and to plan ahead, to have production seasons and so and so forth. But she took it on, which is fantastic. And the rest is history because, for 10 years or more, 13 I think, you know, she was. Yeah. I mean, that’s a long time. That’s longer than anyone, longer than David.
She had expanded the company. She had built up the reputation of the company. All in really good ways. And it’s not just about, oh, we’ll do one production a year, you know, kind of thing, but it’s about grassroot. It’s about the British, East Asian and Southeast Asian community, about people who want to come into the industry, about fostering and encouraging young people.
You know, to say you could, you can. And so she did a lot of programmes. I mean, like the academies and her incredible vision. And I think she got more and more confident. And with creative people it’s that when you start something, when you turn on the engine, at first you might be in first gear. Now, very soon, you know, ideas happen, and you think, hey, I’m driving through the countryside. Hey, this is that, you know, there are trees there are flowers there are, and then you reach a city. So things begin to sort of take on a rhythm, you know? And so she got more and more ideas, I think, and it was just wonderful what she did. You know, and a lot of projects, a lot of productions and so on, you know, all came from her.
But she always has that one thing. One important priority is about the development of British East Asians, in the theatre community. And that was so wonderful.
ROBIN KHOR
Have you witnessed any shift in the industry because of the work of New Earth? Or it could be from the Academy or from –
KWONG LOKE
I think the shift is seismic. It’s huge.
I mean, 30 years, huge. The visibility of East Asians now, I mean, of course, it’s not just Yellow Earth or New Earth. I mean, it’s all the other elements happening as well. You know, the world has changed, is changing. And I think Yellow Earth did contribute to that change because it seems like a small way, but it isn’t because every drop makes a ripple.
You know what I mean. And a ripple becomes a wave. And so on and so forth, and other people begin to notice. The Academy of course, you’re giving opportunities to people, whether it’s just a first taste to say, this is what theatre could be, acting is. And if you want to pursue it further, do. So that’s very important. And the name as well, you know, the fact that that a company exists is a role model.
And of course, now the whole film TV industry has changed so much. And big plays, you know, are being put on big venues now, you know. And I think all these big venues like the National Theatre, with The Great Wave, I know they are not happening again and again, again and again and again. But I think that happening at fairly good intervals sometimes, you know, nothing happens for a while and then sort of 2 or 3 plays might happen in a year that has an East Asian sense about it.
So yes. Yes. And I think it’s because what New Earth and Yellow Earth had done, and New Earth is doing that brings to the consciousness of these bigger theatre venues. The challenge now, I think, is about keeping that momentum going and whether artistic directors from different places have that consciousness in them all the time. Now, I just saw a play the other day which had a small part played by an East Asian actor, and that part in the play, it’s an old fashioned play would be, a white character, then they looked further, they looked at an East Asian actor, you know, to play that part. Having said that, really, that should be the norm in the sense that I think in a lot of plays now, you have a diverse cast where there would be 1 or 2 black actors or eight Asian actors or something like that, you know, and you think in the same breath, you know, you think there would be an East Asian actor, which actually a lot of plays do have.
But they tend to be the very small parts. Still tend to be the very small parts. Unless it’s a play about East Asia. So that’s a challenge. I think, for the directors and producers to think that is possible to to cast a fairly major role.
ROBIN KHOR
After so many years of working with Yellow Earth and talking to so many people and you yourself have been in, you know, with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the West End and doing so many amazing TV and films, have you figured out what it is that is missing from the eyes or the lens of these directors? Do you think there’s something that we could do, or is it something that you could consider doing or like, what is it that is still kind of missing from their lens? And their worldview?
KWONG LOKE
Yeah, I guess like chicken and egg. What’s missing, I think from their lens and their world view is that they still are not able to just naturally, let’s use that word cast away from conventional thinking. They are able to do that with black actors, I think. You know, a lot of the past. I mean, you have a black, let’s say, Henry the Fifth and then a white whatever, you know, and so on and so forth. And in fact, not just those lead parts and with big black actors, but I’m just talking about even smaller parts, but substantial parts.
And you usually would see a black actor and then and so on, so forth.
For example, at the RSC you know, with The Winter’s Tale, wonderful. You know, sort of black actors there. And, there’s a wonderful part, a big part, you know, which is performed by a black actor whom I know very well and wonderfully, you know what I mean. But let’s just say a part like that, an East Asian is cast for that, you know what I mean? Then I would say things are shifting a little bit more.
Just really talking from an East Asian perspective, that’s all. Yeah. So chicken and egg in the sense that also tend to work that we do. The trouble is the work that we do are so culturally specific that people just see us in that context, and then they instinctively are not able to see us in other contexts.
It’s only because it’s so visible now, you know, when we do productions, you know, the East Asian family or these or that or whatever, you know?
ROBIN KHOR
Yeah, it’s also something that I think a lot of, everything people are considering as well, because we also see a lot of South Asian actors who started from doing very South Asian specific productions.
And now, he’s I don’t know, I’m guessing people know who I’m talking about now. I know he’s at the National playing Hamlet, you know? So that conversion seems very or like that upgrade seems very natural for black actors, for South Asian actors.
KWONG LOKE
Yes, but not East Asian actors.
ROBIN KHOR
Yeah. It feels like when you get up to, even let’s say I’m just imagining I’m not sure this is, I haven’t seen the production yet when an East Asian person, even though let’s say he’s been cast to play Hamlet, he would have to be an Asian Hamlet or an East Asian Hamlet rather than Hamlet –
KWONG LOKE
Oh, right. Yeah, yeah. As the production is set in China, let’s say, you know. Yeah, exactly. No, that’s exactly it.
You know, I think you know, like the Royal Court, you know, for example, Scenes from Repatriation and so on, they are really producing. And then when I was there, you know Pah-La and I was there before, you know, Me For Me For You, and so on. They, of course, cast all these Asian actors because it’s an East Asian play, but as I’ve said it’s chicken and egg. It’s both wonderful and maybe it boxes (you) Yeah. Exactly.
ROBIN KHOR
What do you think sets New Earth apart from other theatre companies?
KWONG LOKE
Well, of course, you know, lots of theatre companies create work, you know, about their diversity, their heritage, like Tamasha and, Kali Theatre and so on, so forth. And Yellow Earth is, you know, about East Asian sensibility. So there’s a similarity there.
But I think because of the five founding members and our creative and theatre making vocabulary put together, we created a physical language, a stylised, kind of theatre together with words and a very visual language as well to do our storytelling. So I think that’s what sets us apart from some other theatre companies is our physical vocabulary that comes from a culturally specific language.
Which is East Asian in our productions.
ROBIN KHOR
To give people a different sense of sensitivity in a British theatre.
KWONG LOKE
Yes, yes, yes, yes, because it’s an East Asian sensibility. Although, you know, we are British, but you can’t help but have that wonderful difference there.
ROBIN KHOR
All right. Remember a moment when you truly felt part of New Earth’s family?
KWONG LOKE
Well, that when we first started, obviously we didn’t have an office. We didn’t have, it was just an idea, you know, I mean, you know, and we try to meet up, you know, from time to time and each of us, you know, we try to contribute ideas and so on, so forth. And often one of the founders who has since passed away, Veronica, and she was the hostess with the mostest you know. It was, she’s always doing big dinners, you know, got us in and we would chat as well as eat.
And that’s really like family. And as Asian families always over food. So together with some trustees and the founding members, we would have steamboat and we would talk about ideas. And that’s really family and that’s really East Asian.
ROBIN KHOR
We have images of you guys having your first, board meeting.
KWONG LOKE
No.
ROBIN KHOR
Yeah. I don’t think I have access to the archive but I saw it yesterday.
KWONG LOKE
Who had those photos, my god.
ROBIN KHOR
I think it’s Vicky’s archive that she sent it over. You were definitely in it, Tom was in it and the other founders –
KWONG LOKE
Right? Right, right. Yeah. Was it over a dinner table or.
ROBIN KHOR
Yeah, we can see the hot pot.
KWONG LOKE
The hot pot? Well there you are. You see. Exactly. You know, and I think that’s, that symbolises, I think in a way what Yellow Earth is about: Family, Asian, you know, East Asian, food, togetherness. And it’s a great way to remember Veronica Needa.
ROBIN KHOR
Before we finish, what does it mean for you to be part of New Earth’s 30 year legacy? Obviously, you’re one of the co-founders.
KWONG LOKE
My god. Yeah. From year one, right? Year zero.
Immensely proud. Immensely, immensely proud. Not in a bragging way, you know whatI mean, but a part of history, part of a history, you know what I mean, you know, and it’s so important.
This history is so important. It’s small, but everything is small, you know, I mean, in the context of the whole world, in the context of the universe. But we’re doing what we’re doing. We’re doing within our capacity. And just going back again to family. You see, 30 years is still family. So that’s really wonderful.
ROBIN KHOR
Do you have any message you want to give to someone who’s discovering New Earth for the first time?
KWONG LOKE
When you discover New Earth for the first time, it would be great if you recognised how important cultural diversity is.