Theater Review: ‘Chinglish’

CHICAGO—Nothing could be timelier than the world premiere of David Henry Hwang’s new comedy Chinglish, now playing at the Goodman Theatre. Nothing could be funnier or cleverer either. Yet the play’s final moments suggest that China’s future is bleak, and not in the economic sense we often attach to that adjective, but in a cultural sense, a human sense.

Within the framework of a lecture about how businesses can make it in China, small business owner Daniel Cavanaugh (James Waterston) shares his own story: how he came to China seeking the new American Dream and partnered up with business consultant Peter Timms (Stephen Pucci) who claims to know the ins and outs of Chinese “guanxi.” Guanxi are personal relationships and mutual obligations that make or break deals in China.

Based on his own personal relationship, Peter hopes to help Daniel get a contract with the Minister of Culture, Cai Guoliang (Larry Zhang), in Guiyang, a small city of only 3 million to 4 million people or so. The Minister owes Peter a favor.

But beautiful and tough Xu Yan (Jennifer Lim), assistant to the minister, stands in the way of the deal—or so it seems—for nothing is as it seems in China. Although the Minister seems to like the deal, and Xu Yan does not, actually, we learn that the reverse is true.

Soon Xu Yan and Daniel find themselves in each other’s arms, creating another a kind of personal relationship, and she promises to help Daniel because he has an honest face. Since taking things at face value is impossible in China, Daniel’s innocence appeals to Xu Yan. And Daniel, with a checkered past, is enamored with someone who can see the good in him.

As the play unfolds, we learn that Xu Yan is in control of events and has her own motives for her actions. She does get Daniel the contract—but for all the wrong reasons—because of, rather than in spite of, his unscrupulous past.

Written in both Chinese and English, the play is strewn with miscommunication between the Chinese and American, and subtitles of translation help the audience understand what is really being said. Therein lies the comedy. Dan says, “We’re a small family firm,” but what comes out of the translator’s lips is, “His company is tiny and insignificant.”

In a world fraught with miscommunication, Dan struggles to make a connection and understand what is going on. On a deeper level, Dan struggles to build a real human connection, and one that will rebuild his own sense of worth. But this doesn’t happen. This can’t happen, not in China today.

And this is the true brilliance of Hwang’s new play. Despite the fact that Xu Yan and Daniel are having an affair (both are married), they never form a deep relationship. Dan and his wife (unseen) and Xu Yan and her husband have lost the depth in their marriages and both miss it.

There is only one deep connection in the play, which is between the Minister of Culture and Peter. In the only poignant moment, this pair sings and dances, Peking Opera style, and here we see the love of China’s past traditions, which bonds them together.

Director Leigh Silverman did a masterful job of timing the cues when the lead doesn’t understand what other actors are saying.

James Waterston plays the likable American well (except for his voice which sounds strained). He guides us through the strange land, and we sympathize with him on every step of his journey.

Kudos goes to Stephen Pucci who speaks in Mandarin and must restrain his Western-style acting (even when emotional), so that he can preserve the correct inflections of Chinese, and also so that he can create the feeling of a Westerner who has lived 19 years in China.

Larry Zhang handles well both the humor of a bureaucrat trapped in a thankless job and the dignity of a man who acknowledges defeat at the cost of his freedom.

Angela Lin and Christine Lin add much humor to the piece in their roles as interpreters.But the play really belongs to Jennifer Lim who is brilliant as the confident and no-nonsense, yet vulnerable and attractive woman of China’s future. She manages to display a feeling of loss, while at the same time, making it clear that it is of no importance.

Equally stunning is David Korins’s set design. From board room, to hotel room, to restaurant, the sets display a new chic China. The marvelous infolding and unfolding of the sets from one to another mirror a sense that nothing really is as it seems.

Hwang’s new masterpiece is moving to Broadway and hopefully much of the Chicago production will follow.