Scenes for Mandarins Paperback – April 15, 1999

Cyril Birch is the author of the superb translation of Tang Xianzu's magnificent "The Peony Pavilion," contemporary with Shakespeare's plays and worthy of comparison with them, on the page thanks to Mr. Birch and on the stage thanks to the Lincoln Center Festival 1999. His introduction to Ming musical drama not only gives much background on "Pavilion" and its author, setting them in their historical and literary context, but whets the appetite to read and see the dramas he discusses by 5 other authors. Birch is not only a deeply knowledgeable scholar but an elegant and lively writer.