Publicity and Review
An Intimate Night with Mao
November 24, 2017
By Roland Byagaba
This production covers a lot. I know of Chairman Mao, but that’s as far as it goes…his name. I thought of reading up on him before watching this but time wasn’t sufficient as his Wikipedia page is like a 30-minute read. I still haven’t dug into it as I write this but I’ve made a promise to myself to have done so by the time the second showing happens. That day, I’ll have more context to this play.
I don’t remember who told me this but apparently, Robert Lin, the writer and star of this play, spent over 10 years researching this play. And from the amount of insight the play reveals about Mao’s personal life, all this research is evident.
The play has three narrators i.e. one of Mao’s bodyguards (who does the introduction), Jiang Qing (his wife), and Mao himself, all played by Lin. Whereas Lin’s resemblance to Mao makes that section particularly interesting to watch, I personally thought he outdid himself when playing the Qing. Anytime a man plays a lady and pulls it off, you have to give them the due respect. And the part where he broke off into song, that was hilariously fascinating to watch. As a typical Ugandan born in the late 80 – 90’s, we watched a fair share of Chinese kungfu movies and their accompanying Chinese folk music soundtracks. Seeing and hearing someone do it live left a big smile on my face.
Since I haven’t read further about the person of Mao, I am not sure how accurate the play is. The way it paints Mao and his wife as petty gave the play a twisted sense of humour. The wife processing Mao’s infidelity and deciding she couldn’t leave him in spite of that was very telling on how absorbed by the attached power being the first lady gave her. Also, her part in shaping the Chinese Cultural revolution is very central yet her pettiness can make one easily downplay it. Her eventual fate as shown in the play left me wondering if she an ambitious lady with her own mind, or was all of it done in an effort to rekindle the closeness she shared with Mao when they’d just started courting?
Mao, on the other hand, comes off as a well read intelligent man and reluctant leader who is very whimsical about his decision making. The way he is constantly paranoid about those around him and their intentions highlights the loneliness one must feel when at the top. Maybe this explains why he chooses to confide in the staff around him. Could it be that their lack of ambition and adoration of him mad him to regard them as harmless? In fact, if you take away the ideological monologues, the play can easily be seen as a take on how differently Mao and his wife interacted with the common folk they interacted with.
The monologues are many and touch on different topics and the play heavily relies on them to push the plot. But because of the quantity and length, I can’t remember all that was said regarding Chinese culture, communism, international relationships between China and the west, etc…which is why my attention ended up zeroing in on the relationships between the Mao’s, and the people they interacted with. The other stuff needs a deeper understanding of Chinese history to appreciate. Some audience members that were Chinese seemed to resonate with it very much so based off that, I’ll proceed to assume it’s close enough to the reality at that time.
I, on the hand, will be doing more reading on Mao, and giving more thought to whether wealth and power change us or just magnify traits we already had and were keeping suppressed.
(Originally published at kampalainternationaltheatrefestival.com)
Mao at Theatre Village - The Kathmandu Post
- Anup Ojha
Jul 5, 2014-China has grown to become a world power. Many believe, the person to be accredited, for the most part, is Mao Zedong, a Chinese Communist Revolutionary, who has not only brought change in China but also propounded political theories that changed the world. A play based on Mao Zedong, his personal behavior and his complicated and controversial political history, titled A Night with Mao is being staged at Theater Village, Lazimpat. The drama is directed by Bimal Subedi and is conceived and written by Chinese-American actor Robert Lin, who portrays all the leading roles in the play including that of Mao.
A Night with Mao, starts with a set that has a dominantly red background against the iconic picture of Mao in the middle. And then the play starts.
Throughout the play, Lin portrays three roles, all who are adorned in different attires. In the first part of the play, Lin portrays Mao’s bodyguard, who, as a character, narrates about the heroic traits of Mao. Then he performs the role of Mao’s fourth wife, lady Mao, who is an opera singer by profession and is a woman of possessive and is of a rather restless nature. Consumed by fear of being overthrone from her stature as the leader’s wife, Lady Mao is skeptic with every social encounter. Then comes the part of Chairman Mao himself but he is old now, and by this time, is treated as a god all over China. An ambitious leader who sees the possibility of running the world with his socialist movement, Mao, is a victim of solitude after having lost all of his three sons. His distaste for his wife just exacerbates the pain, leading to a lonely death.
“This is the first time we have staged this play and we intend on doing more shows in other parts of the world too. The response from the audience is encouraging,” says Lin, who has done a 16 year-long extensive research on Mao. “Maoism is a popular philosophy in Nepal. By performing this play, we intend on giving an insight on the life of the person who developed the idea. This play aims at presenting to the audience, the hidden secrets about Mao,” adds Lin, who acted in the 1997 flick Kundun, directed by Hollywood director Martin Scorsese, in which he had portrayed the role of Chairman Mao also. “Performing as Mao in that film gave me the confidence to initiate something like this,” adds Lin.
As the play progresses, the audience gains a clearer idea about Mao, his personality and the contemporary China and about how the Cultural Revolution took place. Other performing artists and supporters in the play include Nawa Bijaya Shrestha, Ajasra Dsungana, Pradip Jung Khadka, Ryant Raut and Prem Adhikari.
Apart from the content of the show, the interesting bit is the projections that—are made to work as the foreground and the backgrounds of the stage—create more dynamics visually along with the well choreographed sound effects. This, with all mentioned above succeeds in holding the audiences’ attention, making it an informative and entertaining show to witness.
The last staging of the play will be at 5 today
Published: 06-07-2014 10:02
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By Richard von Busack via Metroactive Movies
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About A Night with MAO
When Robert portrayed Chairman Mao (Mao Zedong) in Martin Scorsese's 1997 film Kundun, it started him on a path of research that has culminated with A Night with MAO. Delving into the private life of the founder of Communist China, Robert has been able to bring to the public an insight into the man behind the media facade - a character that is undoubtedly flawed, often vulnerable and frequently emotional. Mao, as one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century, is often revered by the Chinese as virtually infallible and taken by the people of other nations as an inspiration.
We are introduced to Mao, The Great Helmsman, by his former Bodyguard, a member of the elite, secretive and enigmatic Group One. These people had unprecedented access to Mao's private world. Divulging any of his fallibilities would result in severe consequences.
Mao's fourth wife, Jiang Qing, a former actress and avid photographer, shared his stage uneasily. At times in the limelight, meeting foreign leaders, and then having to accept Mao's notorious promiscuity, resulting in bouts of depression and insecurity.
A Night with MAO is a revelation.
First performed in Nepal, where Maoism is still prominent in their society and politics, it was described by a major Nepali newspaper - as a postmodern spectacle that succeeds as a humorous commentary on a system and the cult of its great progenitor. (Tim Purcell)
https://www.facebook.com/TheMaoProject/
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