Bat Men: Die Fledermaus Takes Flight In Chinese

Two guys meet for some drinks and one of them finds himself abandoned on the street in an embarrassing bat costume. A year later, “The Bat” seeks revenge on his ignoble friend through an elaborate hoax that ends in jail time and a dissolved marriage.

No, it’s not The Hangover, Part II. It’s the plot of Johann Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, staged this month by British director Stephen Lawless. This production has been localized for the Beijing audience, with the operetta’s arias sung in German but the dialogue spoken in Chinese.

Even more exciting, Chinese comedian Chen Peisi – known for his deliciously visceral noodle-slurping in several CCTV Spring Festival Gala skits – has been cast as the scene-stealing jailer Frosch in the last act.

Read on as director Lawless tells us more about the challenges of bilingual comedy and makes a case for Beijing’s rise as a global performing arts destination.

“Humor, like a good wine, doesn’t last a century, doesn’t last for decades. Humor changes very quickly. So I’m trying to be loyal to the piece but still trying to make the comedy work for right now – that’s the tricky part.”

“[Chen Peisi is] wonderful. His way of performing is very physical. It reminds me of some of the great commedia dell’arte actors from Italy. This is the third production of Fledermaus I’ve done, and he’s very possibly the best Frosch we’ve had.”

“I remember seeing a Fledermaus in Vienna not so long ago, and the old people in the theater laughed at maybe 12 jokes, which were the same 12 jokes they’ve always laughed at and for the rest of the time it was silence. And I hope – I’m sure – that’s not the case with this one, because Peisi tells me it’s not the case.”

“In the original German script there are a lot of phrases involving puns. Which is something I’ve just discovered happens a lot in Chinese! So that’s what we’re trying to use.”

“With Fledermaus, you have to try and get what makes it special, which is this interplay between music and dialogue. Opera houses have tried to turn it into an opera, but it was originally intended to be more anarchic, much more innovative than that.”

“God, the food’s good here. I mean, that’s got to be a plus. I’m doing Der Rosenkavalier at the Bolshoi in Moscow next year … trust me, the food won’t be nearly as good.“

Die Fledermaus goes to bat Jun 3-6 at the NCPA.