Hugh Lee (
Legend follows much in the same vein as Lee's last production, Far Away from Home (
In Legend, Lee has returned to his favorite device of having a play within a play, counterpointing the comedy of an inept film crew shooting a story set in a brothel during the Japanese occupation period, with the melodrama of the story of how the young kamikaze pilot doesn't die and comes back 60 years later as the customer of a young hooker whose boyfriend is the nephew of his first love.
PHOTO: IAN BARTHOLOMEW, TAIPEI TIMES
Lee once again comes to grips with Taiwan's current predicament and the history that created it in a commercially viable format. With each new show, he seems to say, "Do you remember how it once was?" In the case of Legend, the world of the "Moon Flower Garden" brothel is lovingly created, as are the conventions of the sexual morality of a bygone age.
With this historical distance, Lee manages to be reasonably convincing, but when the story is brought into the present, Lee's lack of dramatic register becomes more clearly apparent, and his scenes as the elderly airman remembering love and happiness of his youth are rather strained. There is so much earnestness that the subtle shadings and complex shadows of memory are lost.
That Lee has managed to maintain the production of original new shows is indeed encouraging. On this occasion Ping-Fong will be performing in the smaller space of the Metropolitan Hall, whose greater intimacy may benefit this show. There will be 15 shows in Taipei before moving south for the traditional islandwide tour.
The Legend of a Lecher opens tonight at the Metropolitan Hall and will run through May 2. Shows are at 7:30pm with 2:30pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets for Taipei are NT$500 to NT$1,800. Tickets are available through www.artticket.com.tw.
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