Playwright: Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig. At: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Tickets: 312-443-3800; www.GoodmanTheatre.org/Happiness; $10-$40. Runs through: Oct. 12
[Editor's note: A pivotal plot twist is revealed in this review.]
This new play may not be a good production, but it certainly is pertinent. Hong Kong may be bloody when you read this, as Beijing suppresses massive demonstrations supporting free local elections. Chinese leaders no longer wear Mao jackets, but they still are ruthless. Harsh punishment for dissent or disobedience historically is part of Chinese culture, and cruelty at the top is paid downward to the lowest levels. It makes for a society with little concern for individual dignity or even courtesy. Western travelers in China frequently are repelled by the pushing, shoving, me-first attitude on the streets. Hold a door for someone and you're regarded as stupid or crazy.
Chinese-American playwright Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig seems clearly to understand China's social, cultural and political pyramids. Her play bravely dramatizes the ugliness of China's industrial cultureincluding the exploitation of rural peasant laborbut it's not an easy play to like. Most of the characters are selfishly indifferent to other human beings and most of the actions are brutal. The play is discomforting to watch with a profoundly disturbing ending.
Cowhig's literary style channels Bertolt Brecht in a series of sketch-like scenes, each teaching a little lesson, all acted in a patently non-realistic fashion under director Eric Ting. The play begins in 1992 as a rural couple leaves a newborn child to die in a bucket of pig slops, because it's another girl. ( Infanticide remains an appalling truth still too common in China and other under-developed, male-dominant societies. ) However, the girl survives and we next see Sunny ( Jennifer Lim ) in 2012 as an exploited toilet-cleaner in a Shenzhen factory. The play does not explain China's truly apartheid-like labor and residency laws ( which rob migrant workers of most rights ), but Sunnyand, later, her brothersuffer under those laws. When circumstances give Sunny an opportunity to make a political statement, she naively seizes it without any cognizance of the severe consequences.
Appealing as Sunny is, the almost-comic book style of the work distances the audience from the characters, although providing some amusement value. Then, Cowhig tacks on an utterly realistic closing scene in which ( spoiler alert ) Sunny dies. It's not the ending the audience expects and certainly not what the audience wants. A play which has been two-dimensional suddenly becomes far too deeply human, leaving the audience in stupefied shock and stylistic disconnect. Many viewers may hate it although it may be hard to forget, especially in light of current events.
Beside Lim ( in a welcome return to Chicago ), the other five actors play several roles each. They are lively and capable quick-change artists, but the play's cartoon-like style and sketchy characterization make it difficult to tell if they are good actors.