Howard Miller takes a look at The Chinese Lady at the Public Theater:
True story. Sometime in 1834, a cargo ship from China arrived in New York. It contained a consignment for Nathaniel and Francis Carnes, traders of Far East Oriental Import. Along with the art, artifacts, and other assorted tchotchkes to be sold as decorative objects to their customers was a teenage girl, whose parents had done a trade of their own: a payment to them in exchange for two years of their daughter's service. This is pretty much everything we can be certain about the girl known as Afong Moy. We can't even be sure that is her actual name. But entering the realm of inventive speculation, she has become the subject of playwright Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady, a cleverly conceived satire that stirs its gentle humor with a cutting edge in a beautifully rendered production (which premiered in 2018 at Barrington Stage Company) from Ma-Yi Theater Company, presented at the Public Theater where it opened tonight. |
