5 Questions with Nicholette C
After her sold-out debut season in 2019, Nicholette C is back with more outrageous confessions. Join her as she takes you through her journey growing up Asian in Australia, as part of Perth’s Fringe World.
Photograph / Provided
No.1
How did Diary of A Racially Confused Girl come about?
It was a bit of an accident, really. I’m a full-time musician in Perth, and Fringe World is a time of year where it really gives artists the freedom and the platform to be inventive and create something new. Anyone can participate, and it’s a great opportunity for musicians to do something different. It’s a really big, integral part of the music and arts scene here. I was casually chatting with friends about their ideas for Fringe last year, and I got thinking about what I could do that would be considered unique and fresh. It struck me that there’s a real lack of representation of Chinese and overall Asian culture in the music category of Perth Fringe Festival, even though it falls on Chinese New Year pretty much every year. It’s bizarre that the unique thing about me is that I’m Asian, and so in the true Fringe spirit I decided to just go for it, without really understanding what it would turn into.
It started with a basic idea of rewriting pop hits to include Chinese instruments like the 古箏 (zither) and the 扬琴 (dulcimer). But the more I started reading and diving into this whole world of representation, intersectionality and identity, the more I realised that I really wanted to tell my story, and share the very subtle, but very real, struggles of a “model minority” citizen. Putting a comedic spin on it makes it more digestible and entertaining for the masses, and also just more fun for me.
No.2
You describe your performance as as ‘confessions of a CRAZY. MIDDLE CLASS. ASIAN.’ Crazy Rich Asians was ground-breaking in terms of its all-Asian cast. Why is representation important to you, and what experience are you representing in your comedy?
Representation is so much more than what I feel it’s now over-commercialised to be. It’s not about parallel percentages or having an equal piece of the pie for me, and for many others. It’s about being taken seriously, or at least seen as equal in any given circumstance, and not have my racial identity weighed against my art and my opportunity. It’s so important for us to continue putting our work out there without catering to Western ideals, without playing to negative stereotypes, so our work connects and resonates with a growing community. To me, this authentic reciprocity is the core of representation and why it is so important.
I want to represent a huge section of our society that really sit between, or identify with, two (or more) different cultures. It’s the classic cycle of culture shock, the internal conflicts that arise when rejection of parts of your heritage leads to greater social acceptance, a sense of shame for being different, leading to overall lack of confidence in your identity. I’ve not faced extreme levels of discrimination by any measure, but it was a tumultuous experience for a little Asian girl just trying to figure out who she was and where she fits in. That’s what I hope to shed some light on.
No.3
What can the crowd expect?
They’re in for a painfully honest but hilarious recount of my life growing up in Australia, from awkward ‘lunchbox moments’ as a kid, to discovering that ‘yellow fever’ is real and rampant, and accepting the unfortunate plight of Asian women in the dating world. They’ll know all the songs that we’ve re-written to our narrative and may want to sing along, but our goal is to keep you guessing with the way we perform them in our original renditions.
I want to transparently share my story in the hopes that it will resonate with some, and be eye-opening and enlightening for others. The lyrics and stories are from my real-life experiences, so hopefully people will want to laugh along with, but mostly at, me.
No.4
You use a fusion of traditional Chinese instruments and contemporary rhythm section. Have you worked with musicians to create the score?
The music was such a fun part of the show for me to write, as it’s my comfort zone. I found some local Perth musicians that are still keeping these instruments and the culture attached with them alive, and reached out to them. I was just as surprised as anyone else that they all agreed to be part of the show before I had even written it, and so I got to work. I spent countless hours over the next few months learning all I could about these instruments and how to write music for them, it was a serious education. They are so different from instruments that I knew and was familiar with. I wrote all the parts out for all the instruments, and the musicians had lots of great input as well.
The cool thing was, growing up in a Chinese household, these new sounds were not actually brand new to me. I found that I started to understand and really love these instruments over time. When it was time to put the whole band together for the first time, I’ll never forget that rehearsal. Honestly it was probably one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my music career to date.
No.5
What do you hope this show will achieve for the Perth arts scene?
For the Perth arts scene, I hope that we can continue to create a platform that really fosters conversation and awareness. I hope that we can be entertaining while being really authentic, so people can laugh and have a great time, while leaving space to reflect on their experiences, their relationships with others, and their cultural identity.
Hopefully any Asians or other POC coming along to a show will see their stories reflected in mine, and feel a sense of solidarity and understanding. And for anyone else, I hope they get a glimpse into the daily struggles of those living with complex identities. At the end of it all, I hope that people enjoy the music, have a few laughed-until-I-cried moments, and leave with a more optimistic and open-minded view of diversity and inclusivity.
Book tickets to Diary of a Racially Confused Girl.