VIEWPOINTS – Lost in Translation: Two ambitious but muddled new plays attempt to make sense of modern-day China

The changes that have occurred in China over the last few decades have been dizzying. How to put it all in context, though? Over the last few weeks, I therefore welcomed the opportunity to take in two stylistically adventurous new plays – both staged in New York’s East Village – that endeavor to make sense of modern-day China, vis-à-vis the country’s history. Unfortunately, both were muddled affairs.

Kenneth Lee, Daniel K. Isaac, Jennifer Lim, Julyana Soelistyo, and Holly Chou in Clubbed Thumb's production of "You Never Touched the Dirt" by Zhu Yi at the Wild Project. Photo by Elke Young.

Kenneth Lee, Daniel K. Isaac, Jennifer Lim, Julyana Soelistyo, and Holly Chou in Clubbed Thumb’s production of “You Never Touched the Dirt” by Zhu Yi at the Wild Project. Photo by Elke Young.

First up was You Never Touched the Dirt (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED), a hallucinatory new play by Zhu Yi that chronicles mainland China’s jarring transition from a mostly agrarian society to one of business and industry, complete with McMansion-speckled suburbs on lands that used to be farmland. The play, which recently ended its brief run at the Wild Project as part of Clubbed Thumb’s excellent Summerworks series, seeks to capture, in theatrical terms, the complicated web of tensions such a shift creates – past vs. present, living vs. dead/ghosts, upper/middle class (businessmen) vs. lower class (former farmers), even animals vs. humans. Unfortunately, the production’s forcefully playful point of view and staging (directing credit goes to the typically thoughtful and reliable Ken Rus Schmoll), despite some fine acting from its accomplished Asian American cast – including a personal favorite of mine, the great Jennifer Lim – seemed at odds with the serious, often painful realities of such types of societal transitions.

Bruce McKenzie, Edward Chin-Lyn, and Karoline Xu in NAATCO's production of "[Veil Widow Conspiracy]" by Gordon Dahlquist at the Fourth Street Theatre. Photo by William P. Steele.

Bruce McKenzie, Edward Chin-Lyn, and Karoline Xu in NAATCO’s production of “[Veil Widow Conspiracy]” by Gordon Dahlquist at the Fourth Street Theatre. Photo by William P. Steele.

Currently playing just a few short blocks away from the Wild Project at the Fourth Street Theatre – and just as ambitious – is NAATCO’s production of [VEIL WIDOW CONSPIRACY] (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED) by Gordon Dahlquist. In what is essentially three disparate narratives, the piece, which has been included in New York Theatre Workshop’s Next Door programming, tells the “Rashomon”-like story of the filming of a fictitious Hollywood film (loosely based on folkloric events in Chinese history) in China. One thread is comprised of scenes from the movie itself, another involves the political intrigue surrounding its shooting, and the third fast forwards to an apocalyptic Brooklyn in which two young Chinese Americans geek over the film. In his play, Mr. Dahlquist has attempted to create a Stoppardian puzzle around notions of truth, identity, and history. Instead, however, he has produced an unwieldy beast that seems intent on frustrating theatergoers with its elusiveness and opacity. Director Aneesha Kudtarkar and his valiant cast do their best to inject coherence and theatrical life into the work, but alas to limited success.

 

YOU NEVER TOUCHED THE DIRT
Off-Broadway, Play
Clubbed Thumb’s Summerworks Series / Wild Project
1 hour (without an intermission)
Closed

[VEIL WIDOW CONSIPRACY]
Off-Broadway, Play
New York Theatre Workshop’s Next Door Series / Fourth Street Theatre
1 hour, 50 minutes (without an intermission)
Through July 6

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

Leave a Reply