December 18, 2008

“A young woman, a fisherman’s wife, is shown paddling a boat. She stands steering a non-existent boat with a paddle that barely reaches to her knees. Now the current is swifter, and she is finding it harder to keep her balance; now she is in a pool and paddling more easily. Right: that is how one manages a boat. But this journey in the boat is apparently historic, celebrated in many songs, an exceptional journey about which everybody knows. Each of this famous girl’s movements has probably been recorded in pictures; each bend in the river was a well-known adventure story, it is even known which particular bend it was. This feeling on the audience’s part is induced by the artist’s attitude; it is this that makes the journey famous.”

It is a famous excerpt  by renowned German  dramatist Bertolt Brecht in his article “Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting” after watching the peformance by Mei Lanfang, dubbed as the greatest master of Peking Opera, in The Fisherman’s Revenge (Da Yu Sha Jia). And indeed, this quote best summarised the characteristics of Peking opera and the gracefulness and artistic skills of the female impersonator, Mei. For, traditionally, only men perofrmed in Peking Opera, including female roles. (more…)

Written by: hiuylee