PU-ERH by Norman Yeung, directed by Keira Loughran, with Janet Lo, John Ng and Jeff Yung. Presented by k’Now Theatre at Theatre Passe Muraille (16 Ryerson). Previews tonight (Thursday, May 6), opens May 7 and runs to May 15, Tuesday-Saturday 7:30 pm, matinee Saturday 2:30 pm. $15-$25, Saturday pwyc, preview $15. 416-504-7529. See listing.
In some families, communication is measured not in words but in what’s not said.
Tracing five years in the life of a Chinese-Canadian family, Norman Yeung’s Pu-Erh looks at a son who wants to make his own choices and parents who don’t always agree with those choices.
If the title sounds familiar, you might have seen its two acts as separate SummerWorks productions back in 2005 and 2007. In this complete version, directed again by Keira Loughran, we get to see each character’s full arc.
“In reworking the material, we’ve brought it back to its heart, the family,” says Loughran. “The percolating that’s happened over the past few years has served the material well.”
One of the striking aspects of the script is the use of both English and Cantonese. Raymond, the son, has a stumbling ability with Cantonese, while his parents are less skilled than he with English.
But in several cleverly written fantasy sequences, each speaks the other’s native language with ease. It’s both a kind of wish fulfillment and a way of demonstrating the difficulties of sharing thoughts and feelings.
“It’s surprising what different languages communicate,” muses Loughran, associate director of dramaturgy and new plays at Stratford. “Verbal language reflects specific types of thinking. When a character speaks in one language, she or he sees the world in one way saying the same thing in another language can mean something different on a personal and emotional level.
“Norman wants to explore how language can both unite and divide a family.”
As the play opens, Raymond is about to leave his Vancouver home for New York to fulfill his dream of being an actor. His father, a labourer, isn’t happy about that, but not because he disapproves of his son being an artist the father himself was a writer in China, and a rebellious one at that.
“The father is a new immigrant, someone who grew up during the Cultural Revolution and was persecuted for his intellectual and creative values. His problem with Raymond’s choice is that he and his wife, a worker in a fish factory, have sacrificed for their son and want him to be connected with something meaningful in a familial sense.
“A person’s individual dreams don’t mean much, he feels, unless that person is connected to a larger support system.”
In the second half of the play, the tension isn’t between father and son but rather mother and son.
“Norman’s focus here is the seemingly harsh Chinese mama who runs the household. What happens when the son wants to be independent?
“At its core, the play poses the question of how the ideas of family and filial responsibility, so important in a Chinese context, shift when the scene is North America. The question is challenging and real for many families.”
Loughran, who’s worked with Yeung since Pu-Erh was first workshopped in fu-GEN’s Potluck Festival, appreciates how he balances “a dry sense of humour and surprising insights.
“The play empowers its three characters by giving them voice. Much of what they face is similar in other immigrant families, dealing with a complex existence in a new country. Clearly, it’s not just about social problems, but about complications on a personal and emotional level.”
The production also runs at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts May 21 to 23 see rhcentre.ca for details.
jonkap@nowtoronto.com
