Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Lloyd Suh’s mesmerizing THE CHINESE LADY sheds much needed light on the Chinese-American experience

• By drediman
• November 11, 2018
• No Comments

Shannon Tyo in Lloyd Suh’s “The Chinese Lady” at Theatre Row, courtesy of Ma-Yi Theater Company and Barrington Stage Company.

Last night, Lloyd Suh’s new play The Chinese Lady opened Off-Broadway at Theatre Row, courtesy of Ma-Yi Theater Company. The staging is a co-production with Pittsfield, MA’s Barrington Stage Company, where it had previously enjoyed a run this summer. The play is based on the true story of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to step foot in the United States when she was brought to New York in 1834. For years, she was displayed in a museum and later acquired by P.T. Barnum as one of his freaks and oddities. The play ends on a somber note as it recounts the severe racist treatment of early Chinese-American immigrants.

Mr. Suh’s stylized play is mesmerizing, and unsettlingly timely. In a quiet succession of poetic, meta-theatrical scenes that take place over the course of the 1800’s, we see Afong evolve from a naive 14-year-old girl to an elderly 90-plus-year-old woman – and beyond. Her mounting anxiety and self-realization of her situation over the years, as well as her love/hate relationship with her translator Atung, surprisingly make for rich, compelling theater. The Chinese Lady is a important new play that sheds light on a painful slice of American history that’s been for too long overlooked.

The play is directed by Ma-Yi’s artistic director Ralph B. Peña, who does a superb job of carefully creating a delicate, stylish theatrical experience that’s attuned to the many layers and nuances of Mr. Suh’s two-hader. In the titular role, Shannon Tyo gives a shattering performance that’s runs the gamut – her Afong is vulnerable yet resilient, and ultimately, transcendent. As her frustrated support system Atung, Daniel K. Isaac’s subtly sardonic and biting performance that’s just as heartbreaking in its own right.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE CHINESE LADY
Off-Broadway, Play
Ma-Yi Theater Company, in a co-production with Barrington Stage Company
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 18