In Qui Nguyen’s rip-roaring comedy “Vietgone,” Quang negotiates a battlefield, but it’s not essentially the one he escaped from in Vietnam.
Tiptoeing round America in 1975 for Quang and others whose lives had been destroyed of their homeland proves treacherous. Horrific, split-second decisions lurk; the merciless calculations made in fast vogue in a war-torn nation usually decimated familial items.
Metropolis Lights Theater Firm’s manufacturing of Nguyen’s enthralling and beguiling script shoots for the celebrities that twinkle above America’s huge blue skies. And director Jeffrey Lo is a marksman, main his stellar solid down a highway of themes whereas nailing huge thematic targets, literal and allegorical, that crisscross the stage.
It’s 1975 and Saigon has fallen. Two brokenhearted souls who insist they're completely, positively not the playwright’s dad and mom — younger Vietnamese Air Power pilot Quang (Jomar Tagatac) and melancholy Tong (Amanda Le Nguyen) — are on a collision course. Whereas Quang nonetheless clings to the hope of reuniting together with his spouse and youngsters left in Vietnam, Tong commits to transferring previous the bonds she shed, relishing a life freed from household obligations. For now, the potential of a brand new life might want to wait — Tong is holed up at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, in a refugee camp along with her bored and flirtatious mom Huong (Melissa Mei Jones).
Quang and his carefree buddy Nhan (Tasi Alabastro) cycle throughout their new frontier. Nhan is able to get on together with his new digs, and would love for Quang to affix the celebration, as a result of, in any case, “Superior mates get mates hookers.”
Qui Nguyen’s script delves deeply into all of the vicious tropes of American life. Talking English means having the vocal dexterity to say issues like “ldl cholesterol” and “cheeseburgers,” and zipping down the open highway means sharing house alongside of us who go quicker so their Accomplice flags can whip more durable.
The play’s pleasure is the way it lives in a powerful world of anachronism. Rap music is an important gadget of exposition in “Vietgone,” and whereas a easy circulate from the performers was usually however not at all times current, there was sufficient ability to drag off the script’s necessities.
The play facilities the grief and gravity of Quang. Although he was rescued by the U.S. Navy, he yearns deeply for a life free from the guilt of reaching a brand new land with out his household. Tagatac, a flexible actor who plies his commerce in each main Bay Space theater house, brings coronary heart and trustworthy discovery to Quang’s arc.
The remainder of the well-rounded solid understands how one can calibrate a personality’s highs and lows. As Tong, Le Nguyen comes out swinging but softens mightily when love begins to enter her spirit (an exuberant dance montage with Tagatac accentuates these discoveries). Alabastro’s stunning, bouncy curls and utter pleasure makes Nhan the perfect biking associate. Jones’s sharp dedication to her character Huong gives a heavy dose of comedian reduction, whereas revealing the guts of a mom’s love. And Vivienne Truong, enjoying a number of roles, together with the Playwright in a pivotal scene, is a recent newcomer who assaults her stage time with glee.
The themes of house and connection energy the love story. Characters converse of the house they seek for, whether or not it’s one they need right here or of their homeland. It’s devastating to know that neither are choices. A brutal regime dominates Vietnam, whereas racism in direction of new immigrants defiles goals of an American life.
A want for connection brings forth the play’s heartbreaking but hopeful denouement. When Playwright asks his father about errors made in Vietnam, anger and devastation are the outcomes. Studying about historical past from a particular perspective is one factor — dwelling that historical past whereas having to justify your complete existence is one other.
The sensible remaining moments of “Vietgone” shift mightily, bear down, and pierce our souls with grace and coronary heart. What we're left with in the long run is a fantastic story of immigrants, a real story of those that fought as a result of that they had no alternative. The timeliness of the play is uncanny, prescient even.
The infants of immigrants benefited from the braveness and love of their dad and mom and grandparents. Appropriately, due to these sacrifices, a number of the younger immigrants grew as much as be playwrights.
David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics Affiliation. Twitter @davidjchavez.
‘VIETGONE’
By Qui Nguyen, offered by Metropolis Lights Theater Firm
By: April 24
The place: Metropolis Lights Theater, 529 S. Second St., San Jose
Well being & security: Proof of vaccination is required and masks have to be worn within the theater
Tickets: $27-$49; cltc.org