From Old Bean Grows Bak Choy

The Arts in Education Research Group (AERG), School of Education, TCD is thrilled to host From Old Bean Grows Bak Choy a solo performance by Dr Phoebie Chan, from Chan’s Applied Theatre Lab.

As an autoethnographic performed research, the performance explores the artist's personal journey as a migrant relocated from Hong Kong to the UK. This performance in English weaves together her own experiences with those of her father, who fled political turmoil in south China in the 1950s and settled in Hong Kong. By placing these two migrations side by side, she reflects on how political oppression and cultural displacement shape diasporic identity. Through this lens, the piece examines the politics of migration, the construction of cross-cultural identities, and the fragile tension between belonging and displacement.

The performance will be followed by a talk & Q&A on the research process. Aligned with Practice-as-Research principles, the creative process operated as both method and output. In this research, performance was a form of epistemology, a way of knowing (Kershaw, 2009) highlighting the artist's approach to using autoethnography and performative inquiry as both methodology and artistic form. The talk will explore the challenges of making deeply personal narratives resonate with diverse audiences, and reflecting on how data is selected, interpreted and dramatised into research-based theatre.

For more information, please see: https://www.catlab.online/from-old-bean-grows-bak-choy https://www.facebook.com/FromOldBeanGrowsBakChoy https://www.instagram.com/FromOldBeanGrowsBakChoy

Bio: Born and raised in Hong Kong, Phoebe Chan now lives in the UK where she founded Chan’s Applied Theatre Lab. She takes up a wide range of practice as stage actor, Theatre-in-Education director and actor-teacher, Youth Theatre director, workshop facilitator, course planner, teacher educator, writer and researcher. She performs in a range of theatre genres including interactive Theatre-in-Education, physical theatre, solo performance and musical. Her productions have toured to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, community venues across Scotland, Beijing Capital Theatre and theatre venues in Macau.

Phoebe has published extensively in the field of Applied Theatre. She was the first convenor for the Master of Applied Theatre and Drama Education Program, jointly presented by Griffith University (Australia) and Hong Kong Art School and was delivered in Brisbane and Hong Kong. Her PhD thesis is about the actor-teacher’s approach to acting in interactive Theatre-in-Education works https://www.griffith.edu.au/advancement/notable-alumni/2023-alumni-award-winners/yuk-lan-phoebe-chan

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