Camden Fringe 2025: Bound by the Wind at SPID Theatre
Debuting at SPID Theatre as part of Camden Fringe 2025, Bound by the Wind is the story of Mulan like you haven’t seen before. Veering away from the classic, Disney-esque formula, this play takes a new and unexpected path in its dealing with the legendary Chinese folk heroine.
Produced by The Scroll Arc Theatre Company – a multinational theatre company founded only last year by members of the 2024 MA Theatre Directing Cohort of Royal Holloway University of London – the play tackles the question, “Who is Mulan when the battle ends?” It opens on an ageing Mulan, now a revered and feared general, in combat with another young woman warrior from a warring nation (played with great passion by Hui Chen). Easily defeated, the young warrior begs Mulan to take her life so she can die with honour. Instead, the two begin a conversation that leads to revelations both small and large for all involved.
The three-person cast performs with clear enthusiasm, giving focused attention to creating robust, well-rounded characters. In addition to sword fight scenes that help to break up the dialogue, there are also very enjoyable musical interludes featuring director and writer Xinyue (Sammi) Xing – who also stars as the warrior Mulan – and cast member Lymia Yumin Liang singing back and forth to one another, creating a lovely echo-like effect. The costumes, designed by Jieming (Benben) Lan, help to immerse audiences in the story’s myth-like setting.
Thematically, the play has great potential. It raises thought-provoking questions around the nature of history, asking which figures deserve to be preserved within cultural and global memory and in what way. The Mulan (or rather Mulans) of Bound by the Wind grapples with her identity as both woman and warrior, struggling to be recognised as both. She fears being forgotten and is embittered by her achievements fading into the memories of the past. Yet she is simultaneously suffocated by the pressures of being a legend to many.
Xing embodies these conflicting fears and desires in a somewhat unusual and unexpected way. She offers the audience two disparate Mulans: the deity Mulan (Liang) and the warrior Mulan, who, it turns out, is a character in a video game created by the deity in an attempt to go back in time and undo the choices she regrets.
While the concept is original and intriguing in its interrogation of what historic figures would think of modern reproductions of their stories, its execution has a few kinks left to iron out. The twist is introduced slightly too late into the play, resulting in a rather rushed and unclear conclusion. Discussion around sentient characters and their capacity to make choices other than the ones they were programmed to make, while necessary for the development of the storyline, feels disjointed from the rest of the play’s tone.
Ultimately, Bound by the Wind is a highly creative take on an ancient story. With a devoted cast and an intriguing premise, this is one for any fans of contemporary retellings of classic stories.
Madison Sotos
Image: Courtesy of Bound by the Wind
Bound by the Wind is at SPID Theatre from 19th until 22nd August 2025. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.
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