Gemma Chan stars in UK premiere of David Henry Hwang’s play Yellow Face

Gemma Chan in rehearsals for Yellow Face

Identity and skin colour have preoccupied American writers since the first white settlers landed their boats in the New World and promptly began disparaging the natives.

One is accustomed to thinking about the African American experience, but what of the way Asian-Americans have been perceived and treated?

This subject interests David Henry Hwang, understandably as he is of Chinese heritage.

He also happens to be an extremely famous playwright across the pond.

His semi-autobiographical comedy drama Yellow Face – a response to the 1990s Broadway protests that followed the choice of Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce to play the lead Eurasian role in Miss Saigon – has never been performed in this country before and is receiving its UK premiere at the new Park Theatre in Finsbury Park.

The timing is apt. Last year, in a controversy echoing the Miss Saigon fiasco, there was outcry when just three actors of east Asian origin out of a cast of 17 were used by the Royal Shakespeare Company in its production of Chinese classic The Orphan of Zhao.

“There is definitely a problem of visibility of British east Asians on television and particularly on the stage,” says actress Gemma Chan, who stars in Yellow Face, a collaboration between the Park Theatre and Special Relationship Productions.

Ms Chan, 30, who starred in Channel Four’s Fresh Meat and Secret Diary of a Call Girl on ITV, is also famous for her relationship with comedian Jack Whitehall.

Her parents are both Chinese but she describes her upbringing as “very anglicised”.

“There are a lot of British east Asian actors, and I would love to see them on the stage, not only in plays that have a China element but doing the classics we grew up with here, but there has been a bit of an attitude that you are just not called in for stuff like that,” she says.

“I think the stage is a bit behind TV in that respect because I’ve been colourblind cast for quite a few things on the screen but the stage has been a bit behind.”

This goes to the heart of what David Henry Hwang’s play is about.

The dramatist himself is the main protagonist and begins to question his role as a spokesman for the Chinese-American community after he is embroiled in his own casting controversy.

He has said he “couldn’t be more excited” about Yellow Face being performed in the UK, adding: “I hope the play will give us a chance to laugh together as we explore the complicated question of what it means to ‘play’ another race – onstage, as well as in life.”

Ms Chan is part of a seven-strong cast, a mix of Brits and Americans.

She says: “We all want to get to a post-racial state where there’s colourblind casting and it’s just an equal playing field for everyone, but I don’t think we’re quite there yet.

“It’s something I’m increasingly interested in. Whatever way I can from my limited position I would like to try and break down those barriers.

“I hope people come and see this play as it is not just relevant to people of British east Asian extraction. It’s such a universal play and is so cleverly done. It’s not just saying ‘these are the bad guys, these are the good guys’.

“It’s very nuanced and really anyone can watch it and find it funny whoever you are”

Yellow Face runs from 21 May until 16 June 2013 at The Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, N4 3JP.