Legend has it that Bertolt Brecht's world was turned upside down by a Chinese opera star. The European playwright, who felt that physicality had more integrity than speech, met a revelation of the body's true mutability in the person Mei Lan-Fang....
[more]Legend has it that Bertolt Brecht's world was turned upside down by a Chinese opera star. The European playwright, who felt that physicality had more integrity than speech, met a revelation of the body's true mutability in the person Mei Lan-Fang. To Brecht's amazement, Mei could use pure movement to transform himself into a woman -- all while still in male civilian attire. Standards of realism in theater would be forever changed.
Mei Lan-Fang, renowned for his uncanny portrayal of "dan," or female, roles, was perhaps the most famous Peking Opera star ever. Mei entered the Peking Opera at the age of 8, debuted at 11, and began touring with the Xi-Lian-Cheng Theatrical Company at 14. At that time children either entered opera training because their parents could not feed them (see "Farewell, My Concubine" for fairly a accurate portrayal of this life) or, as in Mei's case, they were born into this rigorous occupation.
Mei's family spans generations of Peking Opera -- both his father and grandfather played "dan" roles, and his son, Mei Baojiu, has succeeded him at the Mei School of Beijing Opera. Mei Lan-Fang put the family's stamp on the "dan" tradition, perfecting both the "Qing Yi" (noble woman) and "Hua Dan" (vivacious woman) roles. He eventually took their enactment to new heights of realism (or "realness" in urban-American drag-speak). To improve his performance, he meticulously observed real women -- he once threatened his wife just to study the terror in her eyes. Being a fair and liberal-minded sort, he later apologized.
Mei worked hard to revive the neglected masterpieces of Chinese opera, just as Maria Callas restored the Bel Canto tradition in Europe. He paid special attention to stagecraft, in particular dancing and pantomime, introducing the first pure dance pieces -- sans singing -- to the opera stage. Occasionally he added kung fu and swordplay. And if La Divina was never content with a performance, neither was Mei. "I have never felt satisfied with my performing technique," he wrote in his memoirs. In fact, he constantly revised his technique, using the intricacies of the stringent Peking Opera rules to create opportunities for experimentation.
As the most famous star of Peking Opera and as the leader of the Pear Garden (a Chinese theatrical circle), Mei soon became an official ambassador of the arts. Throughout his career he toured constantly, and his 1919 visit to Japan brought Peking Opera out of China for the first time. At home, he entertained dignitaries from around the world. In the manner befitting a good citizen, however, Mei retained his loyalty to China: after the outbreak of the War of Resistance in 1937, he maintained his beard and mustache and, in protest against the occupying Japanese, he refused to perform.
Mei Lan-Fang's rise to stardom brought with it an increased tolerance toward actors, previously regarded as the dregs of Confucian society. Mei also paved the way for actresses, becoming one of the first masters to accept female pupils. His legacy continues to inform opera both in his homeland and abroad.
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