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{ 137 } BOOK REV IEwS Strange Interlude on the theme of inherited insanity; she also points out striking similarities between Smith’s powerful one-act and O’Neill’s Mourning Be­ comes Electra (157–58). Barlow’s introductions to both the volume and the individual plays match the meticulous research and scholarly depth of her previous works, Plays by American Women, 1900–1930 (1981) and Plays by American Women, 1930–1960 (1994). Her text is pleasurable and interesting reading, as are the plays. And like those two anthologies, Women Writers of the Provincetown Players is sure to become a useful reference and resource for all scholars, teachers, and students interested in American theatre. Assuredly, it is invaluable for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of American women dramatists, as well as the Provincetown Players. —SHERRY ENGlE Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY) \ Women Playing Men: Yue Opera and Social Change in Twentieth­Century Shang­ hai. By Jin Jiang. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009. 352 pp. 26 illus. $30.00 paper. This well-researched work discusses the rise of Yue opera (yueju) as a “minor” (regional) form of all-male troupes in the Zhejiang countryside around the turn of the twentieth century, its heyday as an all-female genre in Shanghai from 1930 to 1960, and its decline precipitated by the Cultural Revolution (1966– 76), with emphasis on historical and sociological contexts. Jiang argues that, compared with male elite genres—Beijing opera (jingju) and spoken drama (huaju)—this product of popular women’s culture has been neglected by scholars . Yue opera was molded by the all-female cast and reflected the desires of its female patrons, providing material to gauge female concerns in twentiethcentury Shanghai. Jiang asserts that the art represents feminine aesthetics and grew out of the May Fourth New Culture Movement (1915–23), which highlighted women’s liberation as an important component of Chinese modernization . As a historian using cultural studies protocols, Jiang draws on newspaper accounts, fan publications, films, literature, interviews of artists and audiences, and her own childhood viewings of the form. This clearly written text will be useful to those interested in Chinese theatre, women and performance, and the history of modern China. The introduction outlines basics, arguing that Beijing opera represented a { 138 } BOOK REV IEwS male aesthetic forged in the Qing period to highlight patriarchal values of martial virtue, patriotism, and nationalism; and emergent spoken drama adopted similar themes. While the New Culture Movement took female liberation and love marriage as principles, only popular forms, here Yue opera, document what women experiencing transformations actually wanted. Jiang argues that scripts like The Butterfly Lovers (1953) and Dream of the Red Chamber (1962) reflect female desire in the new freedom of the urban space. Heroes are “soft” and sympathetic , love is reciprocated, and abused women are ultimately vindicated as their spouses beg forgiveness. Romance (yanqing) and melodrama prevail. The genre, perceived as apolitical, developed freely during the Japanese occupation as all-female troupes became the norm. Love, marriage, the family, and modern metropolitan life were themes. The primary audience became women: shopgirls and professional women were fans, while wealthier women served as “adoptive mothers,” supporting stars financially. Although males continued as managers and then author-directors, female stars and their audiences molded the form. Chapter 1 chronicles the art’s journey, beginning in 1906 as an all-male form in rural Zhejiang area (Shengxian), arriving in urban Shanghai by 1917, and transforming to an all-female genre by the 1930s: “Broadly viewed, the rise of minor operas in urban centers was a direct response to mass urban migrations , the rhetoric of women’s liberation, and women’s entrance into the popular market culture” (37). The author notes that the male-to-female transition remains a mystery (51) and was an exception to the twentieth-century movement toward artists playing their biological genders. However, Asian female genres are widespread. Jiang could have usefully compared Yue opera to older genres—household groups of Chinese elite of the Qing period, Indonesia langendriyan and Thai lakhon—or twentieth-century all-female developments such as Malay mak yong or the Japanese Takarazuka Revue. These forms share many of the features of...

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