First staged in 1989,Miss Saigon tells the tragic story of Kim,a young Vietnamese woman who falls in love with an American soldier during the Vietnam War.
The production has attracted controversy since the 1990s when white actors cast in Asian roles would wear prostheses and make up to appear “more Asian”. More recently,critiques have moved to the storyline itself and its portrayal of both Vietnam and Vietnamese people.
“One of the biggest reasons[for the criticism] is the negative racialised stereotypes that it perpetuates,particularly about Asian women,” says Erin Wen Ai Chew,a national convener for the Asian Australian Alliance.
“A lot of this stems from global conflicts such as World War II,the Korean War,and particularly forMiss Saigon,the Vietnam War,” she explains. “WhatMiss Saigon perpetuates is that it says that Asian women are objects – sexual objects – for American and Western men.”
The production has been the target of organised boycotts in the UK. In 2022 New Earth Theatrepulled a production from the Sheffield Crucible because the venue was also stagingMiss Saigon.
In a 2019 opinion piece forThe New York Times,Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen dissected the many issues that run throughMiss Saigon,including the elevation of the “white male saviour”,the message it sends about West versus East,and the picture it paints of Vietnamese people.