{"id":732,"date":"2023-06-07T01:04:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T01:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/?p=732"},"modified":"2023-06-12T00:42:11","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T00:42:11","slug":"colonialism-is-terrible-but-pho-is-delicious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/colonialism-is-terrible-but-pho-is-delicious\/","title":{"rendered":"Colonialism is Terrible, But Ph\u1edf is Delicious"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]\n

Colonialism is Terrible, But Ph\u1edf is Delicious<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley<\/strong>
\nChance Theater<\/em><\/strong>
\nThrough April 30<\/strong><\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In\u00a0<\/em>Colonialism is Terrible, But Ph\u1edf is Delicious<\/em>, now at the Chance Theater in Anaheim (the show, labeled as a \u201cRolling World Premiere\u201d has been previously produced,) playwright Dustin H. Chinn uses a deceptively simple subject \u2013 the Vietnamese noodle dish, ph\u1edf \u2014 as the launching pad for an incisive play about Western hubris, the endemic tendency of outsiders to set themselves above the regional cultures they so blithely appropriate.<\/p>\n

Chinn was supposedly inspired by a controversial Gourmet Magazine\u2019s how-to video \u2013 narrated by a Western chef \u2013 detailing the proper way to eat ph\u1edf. He has expressed his displeasure, not in strident outrage, but through a light-hearted cheekiness that, nonetheless, carries a one-two political punch.<\/p>\n

The play is structured in triptych form \u2013 three scenes transpiring in different time periods, the first in 1889 French Indochina (which encompassed the country of Vietnam); the second in 1999 Vietnam; the third in present-day Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

When characters are of different ethnicities, speaking different languages, it\u2019s always a challenge to believably reconcile those languages, dramatically speaking, and Chinn has employed an unusual device to accomplish this. As the supertitles projected on the upstage wall inform us, the French characters in the first scene will speak in farcical French accents, the Vietnamese characters in standard American English. That conceit carries, imaginatively, into the second scene, with the Vietnamese characters conversing in standard American dialect, while the Americans speak in \u201cAmurican\u201d Southern dialect. In present-day Brooklyn, the dialogue is conducted entirely in English.<\/p>\n

In 1889 Indochina, Madame Gagnier (Chlo\u00e9 Gay Brewer), the domineering French mistress of the house, has ordered her Vietnamese steward\u00a0Nguy\u1ec5n\u00a0<\/strong>(Dustin Vuong Nguyen) to recruit a new chef but makes it clear that she wants strictly French cuisine, none of that \u201clowly\u201d indigenous cookery.\u00a0Nguy\u1ec5n\u00a0produces a local cook (Hannah Mariah), but she\u2019s a feisty woman who is determined to display her locally sourced skills. Meanwhile, resident French chef Guillaume (Casey Long) has to admit that this recalcitrant newbie\u2019s exotic addition to his pot-au-feu really kicks the dish up a notch.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all makes for an intriguing but somewhat slow start, encumbered by director\u00a0O\u00e1nh Nguy\u1ec5n\u2019s decision to have the steward\u00a0character declaim many of his lines from the periphery of the stage \u2014 which may help with the audience\u2019s sightlines but seems an odd staging choice.<\/p>\n

The second scene takes us to Ho Chi Minh City, where gifted cook M\u1eebi\u00a0(Mariah) serves\u00a0ph\u1edf\u00a0from a modest street cart. When Quang (Nguyen), a cheerful fixer from the local international hotel, brings a couple of American visitors (Brewer and Long) to sample her fare,\u00a0M\u1eebi eventually learns that these clueless but strangely inquisitive tourists are actually an advance team for Burger King, which is expanding into the area \u2014 an incursion that\u00a0M\u1eebi fears may seriously disrupt the local food culture \u2014 and her cherished way of life.<\/p>\n

Finally, in present-day Brooklyn, food critic Julie (Brewer) brings her Vietnamese friend Danielle (Mariah) to a much-touted restaurant for lunch, but when Danielle learns that a bowl of\u00a0ph\u1edf costs almost fifty bucks, she hits the roof. And when the waiter, Sam (Nguyen), refuses to serve the ph\u1edf with the typical condiments, she\u2019s even more outraged and insists on speaking to the pretentiously condescending Western chef, Chis (Long.)<\/p>\n

What follows is a facile, funny verbal clash, as Chris defiantly cites the hard road he has traveled to reach this pitch of pho perfection, while the equally defiant Danielle defends the traditional way of serving the dish. It\u2019s a biting exchange that raises the microcosmic \u2014 the requested bottle of hoisin sauce \u2014 into a macrocosmic philosophical examination of cultural traditions and imperatives.<\/p>\n

The way that Chinn broaches the language gap is certainly ingenious but requires a broadly farcical tone that, while engaging, can also verge on the overblown. It\u2019s in the third scene, stripped of that device, that we see actors and director in full comedic force \u2014 and a powerhouse combination they are. Standout design elements, most notably Kara Ramlow\u2019s lighting, further contribute to this high-spirited and\u00a0novel entertainment.<\/p>\n

Chance Theater @ Bette Aitken Theater Arts Center on the Cripe Stage, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim. Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 and 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through April 30.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>www.ChanceTheater.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0or call (888) 455-4212. Running time 1 hour 30 minutes with no intermission.<\/em><\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”902″ image_size=”full” animation_type=”entrance” animation=”None” animation_movement_type=”transform_y” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”center” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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