Cody Luk
Online Editor
When doing business in a foreign country, a businessman should always make sure nothing gets lost in translation, except that is certainly not the case in “Chinglish,” a play by David Henry Hwang and directed by Jeff Liu, currently running in the East West Players in Downtown Los Angeles.
“Chinglish,” which is a combined word of “Chinese” and “English,” first premiered in June 2011 in Chicago before having its Broadway run in New York City the same year. Its first Los Angeles show at the East West Players, the biggest Asian-American theatrical production organization in the United States was Sept. 10.
The play is presented in English and Mandarin Chinese, but non-Chinese speakers would not have a problem understanding since there are supertitles translating the Chinese parts. The playwright, Hwang, is actually not even fluent in Chinese.
“Chinglish” starts by showing badly translated English signs in China, setting up the basis for the play. The signs are meant to help English speakers, but the result is by far the opposite when handicapped restrooms are labeled as “Deformed Man’s Toilet.”
Throughout the play, the American and the Chinese characters keep trying to impress one another, but cultural and linguistic differences result in more misunderstandings than anything else.
Matthew Jaeger plays Daniel Cavanaugh, an American businessman looking to score a contract agreement with Minister of Culture Cai Guoliang, played by Ben Wang, and Vice Minister of Culture Xi Yan, played by Kara Wang, in a small Chinese city to allow his family sign-making company to translate and make signs in the city.
From the beginning, thoughts are already lost in translation as the Chinese officials’ translator keeps translating inaccurately and Xi Yan is not fluent enough in English to understand fully, while Daniel’s translator purposely mistranslated words in attempts to help him sound more favorable to the Chinese.
Daniel previously worked for Enron Corporation and knew many executives involved in the Enron scandal. He was also in a photo in the news during the time of the scandal, but he was not directly involved with the scandal. However, through mistranslations and misunderstandings, the Chinese government officials end up believing Daniel to be a major player in the scandal, and they want to sign the contract with him for this reason because they were searching for a cunning, risk-taking business partner. Daniel, who keeps trying not to associate himself with the scandal, ends up receiving a business deal but for reasons he does not even understand.
After several meetings, Daniel starts falling for Xi Yan. The cultural differences clash as they soon realize their ideals for love and relationships are from two different worlds. Though she is unhappily married to a judge, Xi Yan is a traditional Chinese woman who strongly believes in family values. When Daniel discusses getting a divorce from his wife and encourages Xi Yan to do the same, Xi Yan refuses. She says a husband is a husband, even if she is not happy with him. Even though she finds love and happiness with Daniel, aspects that were lacking in her current marriage, she still insists on staying married to her husband because it is a part of her identity.
Although Xi Yan is an attractive woman with whom the white male protagonist falls in love with, she is anything but the stereotypical Asian character who does not serve much purpose beyond being an objectified, attractive eye candy, which is often the case in Hollywood films and television shows.
Kara Wang’s portrayal of Xi Yan is strong and powerful in representing her struggles between staying true to her culture and identity or chasing after happiness and romance. Her character is also the most complex in the play, as she serves dual roles as the assertive and determined vice minister of culture while being a devoted wife at home. She is also a lonely woman wanting to be loved.
The play’s most valuable aspect is in portraying foreign cultures accurately. The Chinese characters are all very multi dimensional, even more so than the American characters.
While Xi Yan speaks Mandarin Chinese often throughout the play, it is still easy for the audience to relate to her and understand her personality and her difficult situation. Her identity with her culture and values and her conflicts in staying true to herself can apply to minorities in the United States, who are raised in dual cultures.
The upcoming performances for “Chinglish” are 8 p.m. tonight, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at East West Players. For more information, visit eastwestplayers.org.
Cody Luk can be reached at cody.luk@laverne.edu.
