Date of Interview: 22 August 2025
Interviewer: Rimi Solloway
Interviewee: Jay Oliver Yip
RIMI SOLLOWAY
To start off, how did your journey begin with New Earth Theatre?
JAY OLIVER YIP
I think for me, so I graduated from university in 2007. So I did a performing arts acting degree at Bath Spa university, and I have a feeling that one of my very first kind of workshop auditions that I had was for when it was called Yellow Earth. I think it was a Chinese opera movement workshop. I think at the time, Yellow Earth may have been in the middle of developing (Running) the Silk Road, I think was one of the titles, their production at that particular time. So 2007, 2008 it was. And at that same time I got cast by director Jonathan Man in a two hander, up in Contact Manchester the year after. I was also cast by Jonathan again in Midsummer Night’s Dream at Southwark Playhouse. Then Jonathan Man then went on to become co-artistic director the following year, I think. So then I was cast again and we did two plays in rep 2009 I think Boom and Wave, which was a regional tour. So that’s kind of how that kind of journey kind of went about. I think I may have done a couple of the Typhoon play readings as well. At that particular point. I can quite distinctly remember that from graduation, doing a workshop and having Yellow Earth on my radar, and then obviously going to auditions through Jonathan Man, who then later became co-artistic director. So yeah.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
You were in lots of performances then, and you were working with them for quite a long time.
JAY OLIVER YIP
A couple of years, certainly for Jonathan, I think I did three or four different things maybe, which was pretty much the very beginning of my acting journey, really. And what it did kind of opened me up, that I hadn’t really experienced before was that East Asian kind of artistic, creative community basically.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
What has been your artistic acting career? If it opened you up to it?
JAY OLIVER YIP
So was it 2007? So almost, what, 17 years? I think I’ve considered myself a jobbing actor since then, so never, ever have I kind of really had enough work to have a sustainable career as an actor slash performer, and I guess it’s gone in, funny enough, ironically, waves, uh, which was one of the titles of one of the shows that I did for Yellow Earth. Particularly, I think at the beginning I was in quite a few kinds of stage shows.
Also at the same time, when this was when I was working with Jonathan Man and working with Yellow Earth in a kind of regional touring shows I did also have a theatre company that I co-established with peers of mine from university called Hammer Puzzle Theatre Company, and I was a lead producer and general manager of that for four to five years before I left.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
Sorry. Say that again. Hand and puzzle?
JAY OLIVER YIP
Hammer puzzle. So like a hammer and like a jigsaw puzzle. Yeah. And they’re still going around today, so they’re still based in the Southwest as a regional touring, small scale theatre company, probably doing a lot better than it was when I was kind of in charge, basically.
So yes, I did quite a lot on stage I think in those first couple of years. Done many, many commercials all the way throughout. And incidentally, I think I’ve only done my first TV roles, by the, when I turned forty by this point when I did my first kind of TV roles, had a couple of those just like day player parts, and also quite a few kind of corporate roles as well.
So it’s a proper, I would probably describe that as a proper jobbing actor’s career that I’ve also always had day jobs and other areas to kind of supplement what I don’t earn through acting. In the last ten years or so, I have put myself more behind the scenes in terms of screen. I did run a small production company called Wolfpack Productions. At that particular time, we’re doing lots of web series. In fact, actually, we did quite a lot of work for New Earth during the pandemic because we were a go to kind of videographer for them that we did actually do quite a lot of recordings and digital recordings. And I directed some content for the museums and New Earth, for the James Robson characters that they have on Maritime Museum and Cutty Sark, which I’m still involved with. So I’ve kind of pivoted to more kind of writer director, although I do still obviously perform as well.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
You mentioned some of the productions you were in. So do you have any, like, good memories from any of the Yellow Earth or New Earth productions that you’ve been in?
JAY OLIVER YIP
Certainly I think there was, I would probably would say life changing moment when I did obviously start auditioning for New Earth productions when I first graduated, because it did open me up to lots of other East Asian creatives and performers that growing up in Bristol and having gone to university in Bath, all of a sudden realizing that actually there’s a larger community here than I ever realised.
And I do have a fond memory that I think through auditioning and through some of the Typhoon scratch nights and through some of those early productions I was cast in, it really made me feel part of that community as well.
So I think that is a general overview of kind of, I would say I would have some fondness for New Earth. If I was to pick one specific memory however, there is this one. I do have a very, very funny anecdote, which I don’t know if you are going to interview either Tina Chiang, Ashley Alymann, or Louise Mai Newbury. It involved the four of us. So we were in, I think it was in the show Boom. And like I said, it was a regional touring show and I think I want to say we were either in Margate or Newcastle, I can’t remember which, but there’s, either scene two or three. Basically, there’s a scene involving myself, Ashley Alymann’s character and Louise Mai’s character as well, and we’re meant to come on to the stage together. And Ashley’s character has the first line to kick off the scene, but because he had a massive costume change, me, Louise Mai would come on stage and we’d kind of do a little bit of riffing ourselves with just a little bit of action, just to kind of buy us some time for Ashley to do his costume change.
Come on, deliver his first line, kick off the scene. But me and LM got onto stage and we’re doing a little bit of messing around, trying to buy some time, and I think we’re messing around with some pens because we’re playing estate agents basically. So we started having this little swordfight with our pens. We kind of then ran out of what to do, and we both gradually looked at each other’s eyes and realised, shit, we don’t think Ashley knows that he’s meant to come on stage right now.
So we didn’t know what to do because he had the very first line. And one of us caught Tina Chiang in the corner of our eye in the sides, and Ashley’s looking at his script thinking like, okay, so the next scene I’ve got to do is X, Y, and Z. And Tina’s going, Ashley Ashley, you’re meant to be on stage. And we can see this at the corner of our eyes in the wings, whilst we’re both standing silent like statues on stage. And then Ashley’s like, oh no. So then he has to rush off and get changed and quickly come on.
But that’s a very distinct memory and anecdote that I do have very fond memories about. And when we do get together, we always kind of bring it up with each other and we just say, remember that time when Ashley forgot to come on stage and he had to actually start off the show? So yeah.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
How did the audience respond, or was it all fine?
JAY OLIVER YIP
I think it was fine. I can’t remember to be honest with you, but it was just mostly mine and LM’s look of fear when we both looked into each other’s eyes and we both realised Ashley’s not going to come on stage, is he? What do we do? And then just kind of thought, okay, so we can hear and see this frantic running around in the wings. And then he was just on stage and we were just like, okay, just just carry on.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
And was it fun touring around the country with the shows?
JAY OLIVER YIP
Every single company that was involved in we did have lots and lots of fun, particularly with Wave and Boom, because we did have to travel around and like I said, there were the four of us and Jonathan Chen Pensley as well, was also in that company. We did have a lot of fun, I guess, bonding and kind of traveling around. Lots of train journeys, bed and breakfasts, going out for dinner afterwards, trying to find Chinatowns in those particular cities, whether it’s like Liverpool, Newcastle or what have you.
And I’ve always found that with generally the East Asian acting community, that I feel that we kind of bond very, very quickly, probably over food most of the time, because it’s very easy for me to bump into someone who I’ve never met before in an audition, you kind of get talking and then you go, have you eaten? Do you want to have something for lunch? And you do, and you have noodles or whatever. And then they become, you know, a lifelong colleague as well. So that’s happened plenty of times, and I’m sure that’s happened to quite a few of us. And I think New Earth has played a part in that, because obviously they have had continuous kinds of productions going over the last thirty years.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
How do you think the shows that you were in, including the touring, contributed to the visibility of the British East, Southeast Asian performers and stories?
JAY OLIVER YIP
I’m not sure what it’s like now. I haven’t done a stage show for quite a long time now, even though I do still work with New Earth Theatre, doing the James Robson character at Cutty Sark, National Maritime Museum.
But in terms of the shows that I’ve spoken about, so 2008, 2009 we were going to places like Margate, Newcastle. I think we may have gone to Liverpool and we were performing in venues where it felt very much like it’s very common, I think, for white audiences to go to, and I think there were those kind of stereotype that demographic of audience were coming to shows, and I kind of felt like, I don’t think these are the types of shows that this demographic audience would probably be too familiar with.
Certainly from my experience being on stage, looking out, those opportunities and before and after shows and seeing, you know, what that demographic audience is. That was my impression. So I think in many ways, certainly at that particular time, that’s why it did feel like we are giving a different perspective, a different story with different visibilities to a demographic audience. That probably doesn’t seem like they would necessarily have full access to these types of shows.
I think it could be different now. My perception is that it is different, but certainly at that time, towards the end of the noughties, I did think that what New Earth is providing right now is regional shows, which are reaching places where these kinds of stories probably wouldn’t commonly be shown basically.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
Did you get any feedback from audiences, or did you face any challenges because of the content or the material that you were putting out there?
JAY OLIVER YIP
Yeah, I think it was pretty mixed. I mean, again, yeah, I think that was great about regional, getting into areas like Margate if you’re performing in London, or certainly in my experience, in my lifetime, that’s always been very, very diverse, very, very multicultural. There tends to be a lot more happening. But yeah, I thought it was quite mixed.
Again, I’m trawling back lots of memories. So it’s I don’t know how clear these kinds of memories are, but it did kind of feel like there were certainly times when we would be approached after shows and be thanked for that kind of story. You can kind of tell that from the audience, that it was a little bit off, this is probably something that I would probably go and watch, but because it was on at this local venue, you know, we came along to watch this show and actually I was pleasantly surprised.
Sounds a bit like a backhanded compliment in a certain way, but I guess there’s quite a lot of positivity there. Equally, however, I do remember and I think this was in Newcastle, I think we may have performed on Halloween night. It was quite a small audience, and the first half there was like a small table in the corner and they did, it was just a bunch of women, and it did look like they were ready to go out on a hen do on Halloween night in Newcastle, in a venue which is in the dead centre of Newcastle. They didn’t come back after the interval.
I do think like the tide has shifted where I think it has become due to accessibility, due to the fact that I think more and more productions that have kind of centred on maybe East Asian stories has progressively over, maybe the last twenty years has become a bit more common in some of the venues, like The Bush or well-established kind of venues that have a very broad reach for their audience that there is that kind of shift. I do think that is a positive shift, I think in terms of visibility and kind of access to those stories, certainly in London anyway.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
Well, do you think Yellow Earth or New Earth has had anything to do with this change?
JAY OLIVER YIP
I think New Earth has had part of it. I think as little as large, I think it is probably debatable. And people can argue whichever way, but certainly, listen, I graduated and I knew somehow Yellow Earth came onto my radar. And I think that first workshop I did, I think maybe I applied for it myself through some kind of casting post.
And I remember I went to university in Bath, the assistant director of the Theatre Bath Royal studio, the Ustinov Studio, was Andrew Smaje at the time, and we had a bit of a connection with him because he did mentor when we were setting up Hammer Puzzle as well, and they used to give us quite a bit of support in kind and including access to the Ustinov. And I remember when I think, when I had been cast in my first New Earth show, bumping into Andrew Smaje and certain he had asked me, what are you doing at the moment? How’s Hammer Puzzle going? And I think this is around about the turn of when I was probably leaving, but I was like, oh yes, I’ve been doing this tour with Yellow Earth and he was like, oh, that’s great. You know, I know Yellow Earth’s work is really good.
That’s from someone, you know, from an artistic director, from a studio space based in Bath, that kind of reach and awareness, I think, of their work at that particular time can only suggest to me that, yeah, because New Earth has been around for thirty years, because I was starting to get aware of their work after I graduated and other people were that I would kind of had connections with, were also aware of their work. I can only say that, yeah, I think New Earth has been a big part of that change because they’ve been consistent. They’ve been there for a very, very long time, and they’re continuing as well to be able to have productions. And also with the amount of kinds of academies and workshops that they continue to run. I do definitely feel that they are somewhere in that nucleus of that kind of shift. They’ve been somewhere at the heart of it. Yeah.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
Has this brought up any more memories of any of the productions you were in?
JAY OLIVER YIP
Yeah. So one thing I haven’t really gone into detail, in addition to obviously, my early kind of acting career, my early stage career, for the last ten years, I have been one of the James Robson’s on the Cutty Sark and the National Maritime Museum. So I’ve been very lucky to have ten years of continuous work playing that character. And most recently, like I said, during the pandemic, I actually directed that for film, for content for the museum’s YouTube channels, because at the time, they needed more digital content, because, you know, patrons weren’t coming to the museum. And then I started to direct and train brand new James Robsons as well. There’s always been a small nucleus of actors, probably about four, that get allocated dates throughout the year, and we can also cover each other if obviously we do get work, like Nathan Tan, for example. Obviously, a year on at Totoro, who was one of the James Robson’s so he couldn’t commit.
So recently I’ve just directed and trained up two new actors because another actor’s left. So there is this kind of continuation, this legacy. I guess that I feel that I’ve been involved in, because I’m still passing on the knowledge that I first kind of gained when I first took on that role. And now I’m starting to direct and train up other actors to continue that. So it doesn’t really quite answer your question in terms of other kind of anecdotes or any other kind of memories, but I think it is important for me to just to kind of say that
RIMI SOLLOWAY
If audiences were going to see a New Earth show now, what would you hope that they would take away from it?
JAY OLIVER YIP
I don’t know if this necessarily answers the question, but something that I felt that’s been very important for me. Being British born and of mixed East Asian heritage is for both theatre, film, TV, for all performance formats, what’s important for me, or what I want to see more of, is British stories that just happen to have contained characters that are of East Asian or Southeast Asian heritage. Because I do feel like sometimes it does become invoke, sometimes of, okay, if we want an East Asian story or, or South-East Asian story, then we have to go over to East Asia or Southeast Asia and bring that to Britain in our stories.
Even though it could be British writers and British cast. But what I would love to see, and what I want more of, is that the stories are actually British, so that audience can then go away, and their takeaway is that is universal, because it could have been just a white family, or a black family, or a South Asian family could have been any kind of family. But it’s a British story and we understand we get it because it’s very British.
I don’t know if I’ve, I’ve kind of explained myself or articulated myself too well, but that’s always been important for me. And that’s something that I feel that we can do a lot more of right now in the UK. Some of New Earth’s productions have given that also with their continuation, I can see that is more likely to happen the longer that we do have New Earth, the more British, East and Southeast Asian performers and writers and directors that we’re slowly kind of building up, we will start to see more and more of those British stories. Like, for example, I think in the States, I think there’s a lot more mainstream media out there that does focus on what it is to be an Asian American, but I don’t feel like we have that here necessarily in Britain.
So I think in Britain, if we’re looking at Caribbean stories or North African or South African stories, or maybe South Asian stories, I do think it’s more commonly and widely seen where we can go. That is a British story about that particular heritage. Whereas for me, I kind of do feel like we aren’t quite there yet when a lot of British audiences can go, that’s very much a British story, but culturally it also infuses whatever it may be, Japanese or Korean.
RIMI SOLLOWAY
If you could leave a message to someone discovering New Earth for the first time, what would you say?
JAY OLIVER YIP
I think what I would say to them is embrace it. As abstract and wooly as that may sound. But yeah, I think it’s embracing a whole community. For me, it’s embracing a movement. It’s embracing and being open to connections that I think could last like a lifetime.
I mean, certainly that was my experience from the very beginning, basically, is that through my connections with New Earth in the late nineties, I’m still working for them, and I still have lifelong friends that I know that I have met. I may not have necessarily worked with them, but certainly through casting processes, certainly from rehearsed readings or R&D or even just the auditioning process, sometimes that there’s people who will be, if not lifelong colleagues, certainly lifelong friends as well.