We sat down with writer and performer Jules Chan to talk about English Ako—a funny, moving and deeply personal story about growing up between two cultures. The show heads to theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall this August. For tickets go to https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/english-ako
1. Can you tell us what English Ako means and why you chose that title?
Get ready for this one…
English Ako means ‘I’m English’ in Tagalog. I was thinking of a name for ages and it was nameless until it was written (true story)! I really couldn’t think of one and while I was walking to the tube station one day, it came to my consciousness out of nowhere and that was it.
I then questioned why it stuck with me, the answer being elusive and never clear. I then slowly discovered that ‘English Ako’ can be a double entendre for me. It echoes the past of when I first came to this country, of having that tender struggle between wanting to assimilate to become a part of the community versus not feeling a part of it. Now it is about accepting that this country is a part of who I am, it has raised me and then being proud of that. It also honours the sacrifice of those who have immigrated here before me and raised the next generation. The ones who lived ‘invisible’ lives and the new generation simply growing up here. The title then becomes an acceptance of integrating ourselves into the fibres of this country and preserving our culture within it.
I hope that by embracing both, it can bring visibility and ownership to the Filipino diaspora. By saying ‘English Ako’ is to say that I am proud of who I am.
Curiously, with that said, the meaning always changes depending on the person and their relationship to their identity. It is a constant back and forth with the sense of belonging and ownership which can be a unique journey for everyone living away from ‘home’ – so who knows what it will mean for everyone else and I think that is the main intention of the title. Is to make people question who they are regardless of the cultures you find yourself between.
2. What inspired you to turn your experience into a solo show?
I’ve always been encouraged to write from experience but I steered away from writing a solo show and never knew why. A part of me thought my experience wasn’t interesting enough but in fact, your story is worth telling and my journey of writing has been about not being afraid to stand up and tell it. In this instance, I wanted to share a simple yet personal ESEA (East & South East Asian) story of growing up in England, told from the perspective of a working class immigrant’s reality. Sharing moments of being at school, growing up at home in the Midlands, to job seeker meetings, to Hinge dates and generally, a small look at a life in England. I wanted to show the nerves of this human and not try to make it complicated to communicate with the audience. That’s what the show is, a conversation with the audience, who witnesses this boy grow up in England and I want to talk to them directly.
3. You bring in Shakespearean characters throughout the show. What role does
Shakespeare play in this story about identity?
Shakespeare is quintessential to English culture. It represents a heightened understanding of text and language, foreign even to people who have been born and raised here. As a foreigner, Shakespeare is a language that often feels unreachable, another foreign language. English even, learnt by the process of uttering recycled quotes and words from moves and tv shows to then stumbling forwards to learn new words. The protagonist ‘Boy’ however, falls in love with learning English in school and develops a keen understanding of character, deeper even than those around him. English or not, not everyone cares about Shakespeare, so in essence it portrays an idea of Englishness. So in our context, it reflects the protagonist’s process of relating to a reality through a language that is yet to be learnt (English) but determined to be understood by going further than most. It’s like learning French in GCSEs, you never fully understand what you’re saying because it’s for an exam but when the need to survive is the driving factor, words and language play a different role in your life. It is about articulating your wants and needs, the act of assimilating by constantly changing the way you speak (code switching for example) and learning to connect to another culture by learning their figures of speech and mannerisms. So for Boy, learning Shakespeare is to elevate him beyond being
seen as a foreigner and into being seen as human.
4. What does “home” mean to you now, after writing and performing this show?
What. A. Question!…
Home is ever evolving. Especially when I’m seen as a foreigner back in my ‘home’ country and similarly here, where I cannot explicitly call myself English without facing the complications of justifying that. It is like supporting a football team, home can be about associating our identity with a team that can even be far away, but even so, I am proud to support that team and say I love that team and even fight for them. We all have a story for supporting that team, regardless of whether you live in a different place or not. It is where I feel a sense of belongingness. I am a part of that team. This is why where you’re “from-from” isn’t always where you ‘belong’.
So essentially what I have learnt is that home is not about defining a single place, as it is not as linear as that when you identify with different cultures. Instead it becomes about being proud of the two, embracing the dance between the two and accepting that fragments of both are home. Being proud of who you are and celebrating the places that made you, you.
For me then, home is being born in the Philippines and embracing the spirit of that country that is embedded in my DNA to then having grown up in England and living and breathing its culture, in the Midlands, in Coventry and making me who I am today.
5. What’s your favourite line in the show?
“Born in Asia, made in England.”
This line, after seeing what the character goes through and experiencing his confusion as an actor, emboldens something in me. It is being able to say this with ownership, to define in a singular line, the journey and endless hours of wondering who you are. This small line encapsulates the sacrifice and journey of the immigration story and shifts the narrative of individual struggle into a celebratory one.
6. If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
It’s okay to support Coventry City Football Club.…
And sing the songs. You are from there.