It's curtains for men playing women (2)

Only a half-dozen nandan artists around the country are still active on the Peking Opera stage. Few families today would allow a young boy and only child to undertake many years of arduous training for a low-paying stage career - and worse, playing a woman. Today, that choice raises eyebrows about masculinity and sexual orientation. As a result, opera trainees for any role tend to come from relatively poor families or families with a long operatic tradition. And when a handsome boy's voice breaks in puberty - and if he cannot control it and restore a high pitch, or falsetto - he may well be out of a job.

But middle-aged and elderly opera fans are enthusiastic about nandan, appreciating the artistry and getting lost in the tale.

Surprisingly, there was a huge nandan Peking Opera hit in Shanghai last month when Bi Guyun and Mou Yundi, currently the only two nandan performers in Shanghai, presented the classic "The Fall of Lady Green Beads" at the Yifu Theater. It's the tale of Lady Green Beads who seeks revenge against the people who killed her parents and turns to an official for justice. But when he demands sexual favors, she "falls," committing suicide by jumping from a building to defend her chastity. On stage, it was a four-meter jump, requiring training to land without injury.

Green Beads was played by the 29-year-old Mou, who received strict nandan training starting at the age of nine. Bi, Mou's 82-year-old teacher, gave artistic direction to the show.

The show had not received much advance publicity, but the theater was nearly full. There were six curtain calls.

"The success of the show strengthened our confidence as nandan today," Mou says. "To win the hearts of our audience we must perform extraordinary stunts on stage and really do better than our female counterparts."

To imitate the mincing step of a woman with bound feet, Mou walked in high-heeled wooden shoes for two hours. He also jumped from a four-meter-high "building."

"Compared with female performers, nandan have a stronger physique and can do many more complicated stunts," says Bi, who broke a lumbar vertebra severely when performing the same scene in 1983.

The performance last month was the first time the play was performed since then, 30 years later.

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