Review - Chinglish: Western People Funny

Ever hear the one about the handicapped restroom at a Chinese tourist attraction that was labeled for English-speaking visitors, "Deformed Man's Toilet"? Or the one about the American trying to seduce his new Chinese love in her native language with the romantic words, "Frog loves to pee"? Such miscommunications serve as the inspiration for David Henry Hwang's hip, sexy and very funny comedy of cultural awkwardness, Chinglish.

As Cleveland businessman Daniel Cavanaugh, Gary Wilmes opens the play with a video presentation explaining how Mao's decision to simplify his country's language by giving characters multiple, unrelated meanings has born embarrassing results in his field; that of providing multi-lingual signage.

We flashback to his experiences in the small Chinese city of Guiyang, where Daniel is trying to secure a contract to have his company create the English signage for a new cultural center. His British interpreting consultant, Peter (Stephen Pucci), schools him in the local business practice of Guanxi; the deal-maker's art of establishing trust through long-term personal contact.

Modesty is highly valued, he's told, and in the next scene, a first meeting with high-ranking government minister Cai (Larry Lei Zhang) and his second, Xi Yan (Jennifer Lim), his explanation, "We're a small family firm," is interpreted by an ill-prepared translator (a hilarious turn by Angela Lin) as, "His company is tiny and insignificant."

Zhang gives Cai one of those jovial shells that hides his manipulative nature but the excellent Lim's initially cold Xi Yan doesn't hide her distrust of foreigners. Wilmes plays Daniel with a wide-eyed, Midwestern sincerity that could be honest or might be a public image. The bulk of the evening focuses on the dealings between Daniel and Xi Yan as it eventually becomes apparent that not everyone is what they appear to be and that miscommunications are the results of cultural differences in determining values and morality.

But it's another type of miscommunication that steals the show. The play's Chinese characters speak in Mandarin with English translations flashed onto convenient sections of designer David Korins' set. Much of the evening's humor comes from letting the audience in on awkward mistakes resulting from translations that are too literal and words that are confused due to tiny shades of difference in enunciation. Hwang's exchanges are frequently uproarious but at times he lets the joke stretch a bit too far, making scenes appear like comic sketches that have lost their steam.

Fortunately, director Leigh Silverman excels at this kind of quirky realism and her slick production and terrific ensemble gloss over some of the rough spots. Korins' double-turntables do a great job of choreographing set changes between several locations; all comically depicted as bland and sterile, save for slight cultural touches.

Though Chinglish can stand a bit of trimming and more empathy for its fish-out-of-water central character, Hwang's cleverness and Silverman's staging still make it a smart and fun night out.

Photos by Michael McCabe: Top: Jennifer Lim and Gary Wilmes; Bottom: Stephen Pucci, Gary Wilmes, Angela Lin and Larry Lei Zhang.

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