Hoon Lee and Julienne Hanzelka Kim
(Credit: Joan Marcus )
Produced by the Public Theater
At the Public Theater, Martinson Hall
Written by David Henry Hwang
Directed by Leigh Silverman
Initially, “Yellow Face” seems like many other recent Off-Broadway plays. On a nondescript stage, an actor playing the writer addresses the audience familiarly, while his fellows assume supporting roles to tell a true-life story. Here, David Henry Hwang presents DHH (a disarming Hoon Lee) caught in a culture war. It’s 1990, and Asian-American players protest the casting of Jonathan Pryce in Broadway’s “Miss Saigon.”
Through his alter ego, Hwang describes his artistic response to that conflict: a backstage bomb called “Face Value.” This burlesque of white actors playing Asian roles backfired mainly because it wasn’t funny, but also, he explains, because he’d cast Marcus, a white Californian, in a Chinese-American role. This accident results in an emperor’s-new-clothes scenario, as Marcus becomes a proud spokesman for Asian-American rights.
Though DHH’s story smells a little fishy, we shrug off our suspicions because we recognize and trust the documentary format. Additionally, Hwang and director Leigh Silverman bring a sense of conviviality to the show, while the modern empty stage (by David Korins) and minimalist lighting (by Donald Holder) convince us that this piece has something to say.
Maybe sensing that this case of mistaken identity can only take him so far, Hwang moves the play’s second half in a new direction. He brings forward his father HYH (Francis Jue), a Chinese immigrant who founded the first Chinese-American bank. HYH raises funds for Clinton’s re-election, inspiring race-baiting and subpoenas from Republican fear-mongers. Hwang sees them acting in informal conspiracy, and this observation provides the production with an energy, a strong theme and a sense of outrage that it’s been lacking.
The new plotline culminates nationally in the wrongful imprisonment of Wen Ho Lee as an atomic spy and, dramatically, when a journalist from the New York Times interviews DHH about his father. Hwang and Silverman stage the transcript of an FBI interrogation, and follow it up with DHH’s fraught interview with the reporter (listed in the program as “Name Withheld on Advice of Councel”). The interviewer in both cases is played by Anthony Torn, whose jovial attitude and egg-like shape belie his characters’ sinister convictions.
In its final moments, Hwang drops the masks and reveals that Marcus never existed. The revelation helps him resolve the plot and bare his soul. It should be a clever feat, since it’s been set up so well. But after the meaty scenes of national paranoia, it feels shallow and beside the point. And though Hwang doesn’t let himself off the hook when he addresses politics and race—his doubts and assumptions are very human, and his DHH is a bit of a buffoon—when it comes time, he also doesn’t go for the jugular.
What’s more frustrating is that, way too frequently, this piece that’s so critical of stereotypes sketches its characters instead of detailing them. Only HYH moves from cliché (first-generation immigrant, annoying father) to a warm-blooded human whose fate we care about. His son suggests that the witch-hunt destroyed HYH’s belief in America, leaving him vulnerable to the cancer that later killed him. This is raw emotional truth from a grieving son, placed in a complex social context.
Unfortunately, it takes almost 90 minutes of theatrical games to reach this point. Hwang takes too long to tear his masks off. When he does, he’s already lost too much of his audience. Although we’re willing to believe in the story’s reality, we aren’t invested in it. Even though the last half hour is so effective, and Silverman’s work on the play brings its best qualities out, “Yellow Face” is a frustrating failure.
Yellow Face runs through December 30th at the Public Theater (425 Lafayette St. between Astor Pl. and E. 4th St.). Tickets $50.
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