General Mulan comes striding in to the space confidently, against the backdrop of Chinese characters appearing in red as they are spoken in both their original language and translated into English. She is ready for battle in leather armour, red tunic, and boots; her hair tied up in a top-knot.

We may think we know the story of the woman who disguised herself as a man to join the army in ancient China through the animated Disney film, but this woman is a real, present and powerful battle scarred soldier, now become General. The power and command oozes from Michelle Yim who embodies the Hua Mulan of legend in this one woman show, as she talks to the audience throughout. This not necessarily linear retelling works really well, capturing certain moments from Mulan’s life and talking of them and re-enacting them in detail, rather than skimming over everything. All these things have been extrapolated with perceptiveness and respect by writer Ross Ericson from the original Ballad of Mulan, and although exactly when Mulan lived is unclear, it is believed that the story relates to somewhere between the Northern and Southern Dynasties (386–589) when the government ruled that every household must send a man to fight. Her brother was too young, and her father was too frail; so in order to protect them, she disguised herself as a man and went in their place.

This is a soldier’s tale, and what’s so striking is how evocative and potent the storytelling is, that you go on journey with her. This is a detailed recounting of being on the front line with her long spear that she uses with practiced ease, thrusting into the air above the audience, yet feeling the fear: not just fear of death but fear of failure. Her experience of her first kill, which she says was just like killing rabbits when she was hunting back home – which disgusts and repulses her at the same time as feeling exhilaration. That she could find joy in killing is brutal and uncomfortable honesty but her survival instincts were so incredibly strong, they drove her on. Standing in only leather armour and watching clouds of arrows coming hurtling towards her must have been terrifying: for all the people there. It’s an image that haunts. This production brings the full horror of warfare to life with crystal clear imagery: “it is the screaming of the horses I always remember”.

Yet it’s also a woman’s tale. In a time where roles based on gender were incredibly polarised, she was accepted as a man because she behaved like one. She talks of first experiencing the smells of being around so many men, and lying next to them sleeping on hard ground instead of the feather bed she was used to at home – and that was just the start. To our modern eyes we see the woman, but at the time women were so incredibly different from men as to be almost thought of as a different species. She says women were “treated as pets or a valued possession”. This is a fascinating, real and powerful exploration of gender and identity, in this current time of fixation on putting labels on people. It is hard to comprehend that they never discovered her secret in over 10 years, and only when soldiers visited her home after she left the army did they discover the truth. In these times where gender roles are in such sharp focus, it is interesting to have the wisdom of the original Ballad, especially considering this was written so long ago:

“But if the hares are running side-by-side,
who can tell which is he or she?”

The Rotunda Bubble, 7 May 2024
The Ballad Of Mulan runs 7, 8 & 21 May
Photos credit: Grist To The Mill and Red Dragonfly Productions