Date: Fri 23-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SUEZ

Quick Words:

theatre-Joy-Luck-Long-Wharf

Full Text:

(rev "The Joy Luck Club" @Long Wharf, 5/23/97)

At Long Wharf, A Study Of Contrasts

(with photo)

By Julie Stern

NEW HAVEN - Years ago a PBS television special aired a documentary called

"Small Happiness." The title was a literal translation of the Chinese word for

daughter, the implication being that to have a son was a great joy, whereas a

girl child was less desirable.

The main points of the program were the obvious lack of power Chinese women

had over their own lives, and the insight that because they were denied any

official rights, the strongest among them learned to become highly skilled

manipulators. In any slave society the survivors learn to get what they want

by devious means.

This heritage is the subtext of Susan Kim's The Joy Luck Club , on stage at

Long Wharf until May 25. The play was taken from the novel by Amy Tan about

the tangled relationships between four Chinese-American young women, and their

immigrant mothers who came to America so their daughters might grow up in

freedom, but who persist in trying to exert their own control over their adult

lives.

Episodic in form and ambitious in scope, the play deals with myriad conflicts:

The basic generation gap between parents and children; the daughters'

struggles as hyphenated "ethnic" Americans to define their personal

identities; the difference in values between the Chinese cultural emphasis on

obedience and family respect; the American belief in personal freedom and

individual choice; and the "foreignness" of any immigrant parent that creates

an impenetrable barrier, making it impossible for the highly assimilated

daughters to know their mothers as complete human beings.

The Joy Luck Club is a quartet of mothers who meet each week to play the

traditional game of mah jongg and trade stories about their lives in the old

country. When Suyuan Woo dies, her daughter June is invited to take her

mother's place in the game.

The stories, and the flashbacks of the formative experiences of the mothers,

become the vehicle for revealing to all four daughters the rich complexity of

their mothers' characters. Eventually they form a bridge whereby the young

women can find the link between their historical roots and their modern

situations.

The defensive resistance of the daughters, and the relentless maternal

pressure and manipulativeness can then give way to mutual respect and

recognition. By turns the encounters and stories are funny, painful and

satisfying.

In The New York Times earlier this month, the Metropolitan Diary column quoted

a conversation between two women attending a matinee performance of the play.

One of them observed a sign announcing the production would last two hours,

forty minutes, to which the other one replied "No wonder there's such a big

cast!"

Both statements are true. It is a long play, and the cast of 19, many of whom

play multiple roles, are uniformly excellent. The first act goes on for quite

a while, but the second is riveting. If you liked the book and/or the movie of

The Joy Luck Club , or if you just want some good schmaltzy theater with

exotic overtones, you'll get your money's worth here.

Performances continue through Sunday. Call Long Wharf, located at 222 Sargent

Drive in New Haven, at 787-4284, for reservations.