Behind the Mask


Behind the Mask
by Feng BaiMing and Huang WeiRuo
adapted and directed by Chongren Fan
presented by Yangtze Repertory Theater

Behind the Mask, by Feng BaiMing and Huang WeiRuo and from the American company Yangtze Repertory Theater, presents us with a troupe of actors in China. They’re rehearsing a play based on a myth, well-known to the Chinese, about a cruel king who orders his sword-maker executed after he’s forged his strongest sword.

16 years after the swordmaster’s death, his young son sets out to avenge his death by killing the king. But he’s too timid to do it. After failing in his attempt, he finds himself in the company of a compulsive assassin who wants to decapitate the king – he has such a nice neck, after all – but in order to gain access to him he needs the boy’s head. It’s an interesting conundrum. The two of them come to an agreement, the boy sacrifices himself, the assassin kills the king – and then himself.

The script alternates between showing us the characters as “real” people and showing us them as characters in the fable. When they’re acting, the wear half-masks, which the cast don respectfully, almost ritualistically.

Chongren Fan’s direction is graceful and delicate. He creates some lovely moments when the actors address us in quiet, fragile monologues that contrast with the stylization of the myth they’re rehearsing. They speak to us as if waking from a dream. Like the masks, these short monlogues are a marvelous technique to distance us from the legend being staged. The contrast is enhanced when the company, acting in the myth, forms a forest in a beautifully stylized moment.

The directorial choices do not, however, serve to explicate the mechanics of the larger play, and the “real” characters behave in ways we don’t understand.

The play is performed entirely in Mandarin, with translation projected on to a screen, which accounts for some of the obscurity.

At any rate, The Yangtze Repertory Theater has chosen a fascinating project. We’ll be watching to see what they offer next.

Popular posts from this blog

Anouilh's Antigone

There is a moment in Fusion Theatre’s production of Jean Anouilh’s Antigone (at Theatre Row’s Studio Theatre) when Creon says to Antigone “Don’t annihilate me with those eyes.” And indeed, Antigone’s unrelenting stare does seem to be annihilating him, as it’s been annihilating everyone. As Antigone, Eilin O’Dea motivates Creon’s line so well that it seems Anouilh has written it in response to the actress. Anouilh’s play, as this production makes clear, is an important drama. Anouilh reworked Sophocles’ play keeping the ancient Greek names and keeping the action in Thebes. The characters, however, mention tobacco, blood tests, film and cars. The dissonance reminds us that Anouilh’s message of courage and moral responsibility is ageless. Anouilh has created a raisonneur in a character called simply The Chorus. Tragedy, he tells us, “has nothing to do with melodrama”. “In tragedy, argument is gratuitous,” he says, but this is a very strange line; Antigone and Creon will soo
Read more

C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert

C.S. Lewis lived between 1898 and 1963. He’s best known for his works of fiction such as The Screwtape Letters and The Chronicles of Narnia , although his non-fiction work is arguably more important. He ranks among the foremost 20 th -century Christian apologists and theologians. Max McLean has written a terrific solo show in which he presents Lewis in his study at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1950, C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert . Mr. MacLean is the show’s actor, and he’s co-directed it with Ken Denison. The script details Lewis’ conversion from atheism to Christianity, delineating the transformation in discrete steps. Lewis begins with his childhood in Belfast: “Mother’s death produced in me a deeply engrained pessimism,” he tells us. And “At 13 I ceased to be a Christian. At that age one scarcely notices.” He was confirmed in The Church of Ireland “in total disbelief.” The script presents us with the structure of Lewis’ life – his time at Oxford, his enli
Read more

A Blanket of Dust

Image
Photo by Sharon Kinsella In Richard Squires’ play A Blanket of Dust, presented at The Flea Theater by Delphi Film in association with Alfonso Ramos and Eve Pomerance, a woman, Diane, looses her husband in the 9-11 disaster. She’s convinced that the government is responsible for the catastrophe, and campaigns to uncover the conspiracy. She’s a Senator’s daughter, so the issue becomes a family affair. Years later, she becomes involved with Andrew, a book store owner active in the dissident movement. Andrew is also at odds with his parents on political issues (his father is in government but it’s not clear what his position is.) In frustration, Andrew commits suicide - he sets fire to himself - in protest. This is all pretty grim, but, well, it’s a grim world, and it’s good to see issue- committed theater.   Mr. Squires’ keeps his script as lean as the WTC towers. The characters have no identity aside from their attitudes toward the issue, aside from the sketchy romance. Ther
Read more