CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings


A CurtainUp Berkshire Review
The Chinese Lady
Lloyd Suh' Fascinating History Lesson is Now in New York
There must be something in the beautiful green mountains of the Berkshires to nurture theatrical enterprises. Curtainup was borne there in 1996. And numerous musicals and provocative dramas began life at one of its fine regional theaters.

Last month Jane Anderson's Mother of the Maid which had its world premiere at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts (review) received a starry New York production at the Public Theater ( review).

Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, Massachusetts has been an especially nurturing incubator for new plays and musicals. This past week I had the pleasure of seeing not one, but two plays that premiered there and are now here in New York.

American Son landed on Broadway with a new cast, director and design team to insure a safe landing. But since Lloyd Suh's charming little history play was co-produced with the May-Yi Theater Company it's tranferred to that company's home on Theatre Row intact, with even the same stage manager on board. Like Barrington's St. Germain Stage, the Beckett is a small theater which is perfect for this intimate look at this fact based story.

Now that I've seen Chinese Lady I'm very much on the same page as our Berkshire critic Gloria Miller and I'm therefore re-posting her review below, but with details about where and when it's playing changed in the Production Notes.

It would Since, this beautifully acted, poetic a play is only here for a short visit, I urge you not to miss it. — Elyse Sommer

The Chinese Lady reviewed by Gloria Miller
And because I cannot have anything in this life you see, I cannot have anything. So it is natural that what I want is always that which is most forbidden. — Atung
Shannon Tyo (photo credit: Eloy Garcia)
A shipping container dominates the stage, immediately establishing images of freight, cargo and human trafficking. The box opens to reveal Afong Moy (Shannon Tyo,) the 14-year-old Chinese girl who has been bought, like the items displayed by Nathaniel and Frederic Carnes — purveyors of Oriental objet d'art.

It is 1834 and she seems to be the first Chinese female seen in the United States. Sold by her family from Guangzhou province for what was to be a two-year engagement, Afung Moy performs quotidian tasks such as eating with chopsticks, speaking Chinese, drinking tea and walking on four-inch bound feet. She does this twice a day, six days a week at Peale's Museum.

At first her lyrical thoughts about this exciting opportunity reveal a self-perception as a good-will ambassador from her people, someone sent to endear the Chinese culture to Americans. But the audience immediately discerns her role as one of cynical commercialism.

The Carnes view her as just another commodity to be cared for and sold for a staggering twenty-five cents, then fifty cents. Instead of returning home as promised, her authentic "Chinese room" is taken on by P.T. Barnum and she is added to his museum which displays freaks and oddities.

This engaging play by Lloyd Suh, co-produced by the Manhattan based Ma-Yi Theater Company, is unusual in construction and subject matter. Based on a true story about Afung Moy, Suh utilizes her performance to trace the evolution of the Chinese in the U.S. At first, like Moy, they are exotic curiosities and unthreatening. But with the exploitative immigration of workers to build the transcontinental railroad, hostility grows.

The ingenuous recitation takes on an ominous tone as the lists of vigilante atrocities eventually lead to a complete shutdown of Chinese admitted to the U.S. In 1882 Chester Alan Arthur signs the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was not repealed until 1943. The parallels of animosity directed towards immigrants to present day cruelties are unmistakable.

As Moy recites and re-recites her rehearsed speech, Atung (Daniel K. Isaac)her interpreter, loosely translates her words— though not exactly in her flowery language which expresses deeper feelings and ideas. This is sometimes the basis for humor. If she could really speak the English we hear, she might become a person instead of an exhibit in which Afong is viewed but not seen.

As the years pass Afong's optimism fades. She is an outsider trapped in what has become a brutal culture, one which does not accept others easily. Her disappointment, pain and anger grow with this realization.

Tyo's body language underscores Moy's perceptions and reflect her darker inner drama. Afong struggles against the stereotypical impressions imposed upon her by the public and her "owners." Even the "Emperor", President Andrew Jackson whom she meets on her travels throughout the eastern states, cannot relate to her as anything but a talking "zoo-like" creature.

v Atung her interpreter is "irrelevant" as he acts as her prop man and "not always accurate" interpreter. He, too, is invisible as a human being and to her as well. After all, she is a teen-aged star and he a lowly servant. Gradually as the years grind on he is her life line to the world outside her box, and indispensable. His gentle, accommodating demeanor hides a longing which breaks out in a breathtaking monologue as he longs for what he can never have. Afong's loyalty and affection for Moy grows over time but their lives are circumscribed by Chinese propriety and reticence. Both are isolated and denied marital and family ties by American laws.

Ralph B. Pena's direction, reminiscent of a stylized Chinese opera, creates a subtle tension through dramatic minimalistic movements. Enhanced by the fluid and color- saturated lighting of Oliver Wason, it intensifies the inner emotions of the actors and adds texture and nuanced meaning to their dialogue and actions.

Fabian Obispo's evocative music and sound effects convey the fragility of Afong Moy's plight and the delicacy of Chinese culture as a haunting reminder of both characters' memories and loss.

Junghyun Georgia Lee's period costumes are lush— flowing garments for the young Moy that evolve as she ages. The set design is representative of the most precious Oriental treasures on display and most likely prized over its human inhabitants.

Though there are few extant documents to flesh out the real Afong Moy's life, Suh and his cast and production colleagues have reconstructed a riveting and poetic 90-minute world premiere of historic interest and pointed political observations.






Search CurtainUp in the box below Back to Curtainup Main Page

PRODUCTION NOTES
The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh
Directed by Ralph B. Pena
Cast: Daniel K. Isaac (Atung) Shannon Tyo (Afong Moy)
Scene/Costume design: Junghyun Georgia Lee
Lighting design: Oliver Wason
Composer and Sound design: Fabian Obispo
Stage Manager: Geoff Boronda
Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission
May-Ye Theater and Barrington Stage Company co-productio Theater Row's Beckett Theatre
From 11/02/18; opening 10/18; closing 11/18/18
Reviewed by Gloria Miller at Barrington Stage on 7/25/18 and Elyse Sommer at the Beckett on 11/07/18


REVIEW FEEDBACK
Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
  • I agree with the review of The Chinese Lady
  • I disagree with the review of The Chinese Lady
  • The review made me eager to see The Chinese Lady
Click on the address link E-mail: esommer@curtainup.com
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V):

Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review.

For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted at http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader
Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter

©Copyright 2018, Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com