September 27, 2005
Happy Valley :: Intersections of Class, Nationality, Gender, and Family
On Sunday afternoon, recovering from my previous night of carousing, I had a late breakfast with Venora and her friends and then she and I went to see Happy Valley, a Theater Mu play production, at Intermedia Arts. I had not heard of this play (written by Aurorae Khoo and directed by Jen Weir) until Holly and Kim raved about it the week before. Here is a synopsis of the play:
Life in Hong Kong for 13-year-old Tuppy and her guardian uncle is a magnificent world of horse racing, chinchillas and make believe. But as the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to mainland China looms, their untraditional family, including her uncle’s new girlfriend and their Filipina maid, must scramble to devise an exit strategy. At once a charming comedy and a complex drama, Happy Valley explores racism between Asian ethnic groups, the struggles of adolescence, and the life changing nature of emigration.
Truth be told, I was not expecting much, but I really was impressed with the play, both stylistically and substantively. The actors all performed their best -- evoking the right emotions to express their predicaments. Moreover, the contemporary topic was a wonderful vehicle to address the intersection of class, nationality, gender, and family life in the context of larger geo-political shifts.
The play was thought provoking and tapped into issues often overlooked and discounted in the Asian/Asian American communities. In particular, I liked the juxtapositioning of characters and situations -- the assimilated Hong Kongese uncle and neice and the fresh off the boat Chinese nationalist new wife, the privileged gentry class being displaced from their home and the Filipina maid who left her poor family to support them, the orphaned neice left behind once again by her uncle and his new wife, each character trying to forge a sense of family but always at the exclusion of another character, the sense of impending loss and the immediate yearnings for what was. In many ways, the play was a study of diaspora and its effects on family life.
I also enjoyed the fact that the emotions were evoked (and not telegraphed), the moral behind the story was subtly told (and not so explicit), and the acting was not over the top caricatures. And as I told many friends afterwards, I was glad that Mu did not produce another traditional, folktale play about Asia that orientalizes the diverse cultures where we all come from. Instead, the play showed the complexity of modern life for Asians, as well as reflecting many of the struggles and challenges of Asian Americans.
The play ends this weekend, so I encourage folks to see it while it's still around.
Posted by richlee at September 27, 2005 04:45 PM