Review Roundup: Barrington Stage's THE CHINESE LADY

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in the Berkshires (Pittsfield, MA) under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, is proud to present the world premiere of The Chinese Lady, presented in a co-production with the Ma-Yi Theater Company. The Chinese Lady is now on stage through August 11.

Written by Lloyd Suh (Charles Francis Chan Jr.'s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery), directed by Ralph Peña (Microcrisis, Ma-Yi Theater Company), the cast of The Chinese Lady will include Shannon Tyo (BSC's Broadway Bounty Hunter) as "Afong Moy" and Daniel K. Isaac ("Billions") as "Atung."

In 1834, Afong Moy is brought to the United States from Beijing and put on display for the American public as the "Chinese Lady." Over the next 45 years, she performs in a side show that both defines and challenges her own view of herself. Inspired by the true story of America's first female Chinese immigrant, playwright Lloyd Suh spins a tale of dark poetic whimsy in this piercing portrait of America as seen through the eyes of a young Chinese woman.

The Chinese Lady has scenic and costume design by Junghyun Georgia Lee, lighting design by Oliver Wason, sound design by Fabian Obispo. Casting by Pat McCorkle. Production Stage Manager: Geoff Boronda.

Performances: Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30pm; Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00pm. Opening night July 25 at 7:30pm. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). Tickets: $15-$48. Barrington Stage Box Office: (413) 236-8888 www.barringtonstageco.org.

Let's see what the critics have to say!

Steve Barnes, Times Union: Suh explores Moy's story in an unusual, intellectually bracing way that explodes theater conventions. For most of the play she never leaves her box, often speaking directly to the audience - sometimes as if they're contemporaries from her own era, at others as if they're today's theater audience. Nearby throughout is Atung (Daniel K. Isaac), a Chinese man, some years older, who acts as her translator.

J. Peter Bergman, The Berkshire Edge: Director Ralph G. Peña has given the play a wonderful, self-contained world of life and movement. At times it is almost too stylized and seems to become a parody of itself, of the Chinese theatrical arts, if you will. But still, it is the delicacy he has allotted to his actors that makes them ring so very true to our idealized stereotype figures as we perceive them. Thankfully both get those wonderful breakout moments in the play where cultural differences slip into an obscurity daunted by shared human passions. His control over the script and its necessary actions is remarkable. When Afong Moy relates the tale of her meeting with President Andrew Jackson, her words are abused by her translator Atung, who also plays Atung's own version of how Jackson has reacted. No funnier moment exists in this play.

Jeffrey Borak, The Berkshire Eagle: Director Ralph B. Pena's production draws rich dramatic texture and color from Oliver Wason's lighting concept and especially Fabian Obispo's delicate, haunting incidental music and an evocative, aurally descriptive sound design that ends, as the audience is leaving the theater, with an instrumental version, complete with tapping, of William Jerome and Jean Schwartz' popular 1906 tune, "Chinatown My Chinatown" - wry, sublime inspiration.

Gloria Miller, Curtain Up: 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.

Macey Levin, Berkshire on Stage: Director Ralph B. Pena, working within the limited space of designer Junghyun Georgia Lee's set dictated by the script, moves his actors gracefully with no wasted movement or time. The slow evolution of the two characters relationship demands our empathy especially with the knowledge that they are worlds apart. The costumes, also designed by Ms. Lee, are traditional Chinese at first and then become more westernized and suggests the different classes of the two characters. Fabian Obispo's compositions and sound design and Oliver Wason's lighting immeasurably add to the atmosphere of the production.

Rebecca Phelps, In The Spotlight: This play takes place in one room, Atong's home from age 14 on into her 70's. The atmospheric music, costuming, lighting, and use of one huge curtain provide us with the sense of time passing. It is a fascinating piece of theater and history, beautifully and bravely told.

Helen Epstein, ArtFuse: From their elegant setting of chinoiserie, Atung and Moy have a lot to say about American history and culture - acutely informed by the playwright's 21st century sensibility and identity politics. The play has been in development for several years, but it resonates more powerfully since the 2016 election. I left the theater feeling that this script needed more work, but was pleased to have been introduced to Afong Moy and Atung.

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