A theatrical performance exploring the real heroine behind the Chinese legend that inspired the Mulan story, focusing on identity and the struggle to return to civilian life.
The Ballad of Mulan runs at York Theatre Royal on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 September, playing in the Studio. It's a two-night run, so you've got two chances to catch it.
Most of us know the story through Disney, but this one goes back to the Chinese legend that inspired it. It follows Mulan, who disguised herself as a man and fought for the Chinese Empire for ten years. The play picks up as the fighting ends, and it's less about the war and more about what comes after: her search for identity in a violent world and the struggle to return to her old life as a woman.
There's a personal connection here, too. The production was commissioned and performed by Michelle Yim, a West Yorkshire-born British-Chinese actress, and developed with support and funding from Arts Council England. It's produced by the team behind the Edfringe sell-out The Unknown Soldier (Grist to the Mill), in collaboration with the British East Asian theatre company Red Dragonfly Productions. So it's a local production with a broad reach, bringing a story that's well-known in one form into a completely different light.
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It's in the Studio, which keeps things close and focused, and it runs across those two nights — Friday 11 and Saturday 12 September — at York Theatre Royal.
