Press Reviews of Mei Lanfang in the Soviet Union, 1935, by Female Writers: Neher Versus Shaginyan

Abstract

There are two interesting female exceptions to the all-male chorus reviewing the Chinese performer of female roles Mei Lanfang and his troupe in the local newspapers during Mei's Soviet tour in the spring of 1935. One is the well-established Russian writer Marietta Shaginyan (1888–1982), whose review was published in the foremost party organ, Pravda. The other is the exiled German actress Carola Neher (1900–1942), whose review could be read in the small Moscow-based newspaper for German-speaking residents, Deutsche Zentral-Zeitung. Both women only reviewed Mei this once. A comparison of their reactions as female artists to the same event is doubly interesting because they react to it in politically incompatible ways. Shaginyan follows the Soviet party line of the time, in contrast to Neher's more cosmopolitan point of view. I begin with Neher so as to throw Shaginyan into greater relief, and to uncover why Neher's expert professional analysis has so far been unduly and sadly neglected. To further set off their contrasting views of Mei Lanfang and Chinese theatre, I compare these to the more well-known viewpoints of Sergei Tretyakov and Bertolt Brecht.