Chinese Theater: Meeting of the Eyes

Running head: MEETING OF THE EYES1
“Meeting of the Eyes”: A Critical Review
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MEETING OF THE EYES

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“Meeting of the Eyes”: A Critical Review
Gestures are long rooted in China’s operatic history. Defining Kun opera, originating in south and staying dominant from mid-sixteenth until late nineteenth century, gestures are employed as a rich repertoire for later operatic expressions in Peking and cinematic productions nationwide. The Kun opera, waning by early late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries found a new revival by Mei Lanfang, a leading Peking performance artist in first half of twentieth century. Tapping into his legacy, Dong (2010) examines Lanfang’s use of gesture in an iconic opera film, Dream of the Garden. Essentially, Dong shows how, by combining stagecraft and developed cinematic skills, Lanfang manages to reinvent Kun opera into a cinematic language. The Dream of the Garden is a highlight of climatic scenes – namely, A Garden Stroll and The Interrupted Dream – in original play The Peony Pavilion. Thematically, Dream of the Garden represents, argues Dong, a disruption from a long-held Confusion convention of modesty and constraint, particularly for females. Visually, Dream of the Garden (re)introduces Kun opera in a new cinematic form informed by Lanfang’s extraordinary gift for eye expression and, more recently in his career, an eye for visual experimentation. In his analysis, Dong emphasizes playful acts of lifting/lowering sleeves performed by leading actress and actor playing a couple exchanging words of admiration (and gestures) in a garden. Despite no longer a novelty by late 1950s, Dream of the Garden, an opera film, represents, shows Dong, a culmination in Lanfang’s career not only as a leading performance artist over 40 years but, notably, as an innovator in China’s evolving cinematic scene by re-adapting an old art form, i.e. Kun opera, into new cinematic expressions. The opera film is, moreover, a clear departure in choreographic experimentation no longer confined to stage stylistic restrictions (and conventions) but, in
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Lanfang’s style and collaborations, finds new expressions in camera movements employed on screen.
In “Meeting of the eyes: Invented gesture, cinematic choreography, and Mei Lanfang’s Kun opera film,” Dong harks back to a gray period of China’s artistic history. Having Lanfang’s performance – and, for that matter, inventiveness – in Dream of the Garden as a departure point, Dong analyzes use of gesture in a wider context of Kun opera development, particularly during first half of twentieth century. In his analysis, Dong properly uses local sources, collaboration projects and personal accounts to contextualize Dream of the Garden in a gesture-informed convention of Kun opera. For instance, Dong, citing frequently Lanfang’s memoir, offers primary accounts of move-making process, in modern day language, of Dream of the Garden. Given Lanfang’s lack of cinematic experience and training, at least compared to Hollywood and Soviet Union actors Lanfang visited, invited and learned from, Dong manages to accompany readers into move-making process by offering primary accounts in Lanfang’s memoir, accounts supported by insights from longstanding collaborator Qi Rushan.
These accounts are not, however, always reliable. Indeed, Dong appears to be unsure of accounts provided by Rushan in a number of places in his analysis. For example, having established Lanfang- Rushan collaboration history, Dong goes on – relying on ...