THEATRE
Mei Mac brings sensitivity and verve to the London stage
For Mei Mac, 2023 has marked a turning point. The actress, who has spent the past decade honing her craft in repertory theatre, received her first Best Actress Olivier nomination in April, for her appearance in the magical stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s beloved animation My Neighbour Totoro. In May, she and the Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa treated the newly crowned Charles III, and much of the nation, to a snippet of Romeo and Juliet at the Coronation concert.
‘To have two queer people, who look like Ncuti and me, performing one of Shakespeare’s most romantic scenes to the King of England? What a surreal and beautiful moment,’ Mac says now. I meet her in the Young Vic, where she comes fresh from leading a matinee of Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play – a stinging and hilarious new work that skewers clichéd Western depictions of East and Southeast Asian people, via parodic pastiches of The King and I, South Pacific and Madama Butterfly, among others.
Mac delivers comedy brilliantly. ‘In sending up those traditional stereotypes, you ridicule discrimination and reclaim power from the oppressor,’ she says. ‘I had a fire in my belly about the themes already, and this play poured fuel on that fire. Also, in a world that can feel oppressive, joy is an act of resistance.’ This was originally what appealed to her most about the project, and the simple desire to spread happiness from storytelling is also behind her affection for My Neighbour Totoro – a play so poignant and personal that she is reprising her central role in it at the Barbican this month.
The story – of two young sisters who befriend a shape-shifting woodland spirit called Totoro – is one Mac grew up with. She had originally been
