ANDY DRACHENBERG: How did you first get involved with this show?
STEPHEN PUCCI: The Goodman had hired a UK casting director. The UK casting director had emailed a bunch of translation companies, one of which happened to be my friend who I went to university with. He obviously knew I was an actor so he forwarded it on to me. Then I got in touch with the casting director, I filmed an audition in London, I flew to Chicago, and that’s it.
AD: What is Chinglish about?
SP: Chinglish the term is an amalgamation of Chinese and English, but as a concept it’s about how those worlds, languages, and cultures meet. It’s about how the differences and similarities come together to be understood, and about how those differences can be misunderstood.
One of the things the play highlights is when these two concepts come together, the space they share can bring out awkward or funny situations, making both cultures look silly. But there are also points in the play when they crossover and make a genuine, very moving connection. It brings us together as human beings rather than Chinese and American or East and West. There are lots of things that come out of this meeting: some good, some bad, and some that are just there not to be judged. It’s a very rich ground between the two cultures, a very rich, funny, and poignant place.
AD: Who is your character in the story?
SP:
In the beginning, the Cultural Minister and Peter have very similar hearts. Our love of China is based more on love of older, more traditional culture, such as the opera, as opposed to the modernity. Later on in the play, he becomes aware that however much he loves China and has learned about Chinese art, customs, language, etc at the end of the day he is still an outsider. However much he tries to become closer to China, there is a certain impenetrability for a foreigner.
AD: What sort of research/preparations have you done to get into the spirit of Chinglish?
SP: Although my character is older than I am, I’ve been in many situations that my character has been in. I can draw on a fair amount of personal experience, and the rest is just a bit of imagination. In terms of preparation, my Chinese is fairly good, but I have to work on having the audience believe that I’ve been working in China for 19 or 20 years…at least having the appearance of fluency is important.
Also, having lived in China, I saw many expats like Peter who have that kind of air of desperation, appearing lost in a country and struggling with language or culture or customs.
AD: What has the guanxi with the show been like?
SP: We’re a very connected cast. We’ve got very strong bonds between us. And it’s always good having a writer in the room. David is very open. He is always willing to discuss, change, explain, or listen to us. It’s all a process that we’ve gone through together and we’ve gotten closer and closer. In Chicago, we lived in kind of like a dormitory… we ate dinner together… we went shopping together.
AD: What is at the heart of this show for you?
SP: It’s in line with the theme of the play about connecting cultures and finding those connections within myself. My Chinese side and my British side are very different but they exist within me as the actor and as a person, but also very much so for my character. Learning how to switch between the two and how to connect the two, for me, is very important.
AD: How does Chinglish correspond with the real world today?
SP: In the recent years, especially since the Olympics when China really came onto the scene in terms of the world media, I’ve seen China’s presence in the media and in people’s minds and psyches getting bigger and bigger. But when I was studying Chinese at university and when I was training to be an actor I thought these were two different worlds. I used to read David’s plays at university and think it was a part of me that I could never explore. David writes about the Chinese experience or the East Asian experience in general. So when this play came up and it was written by a celebrated writer like David, I was never in doubt that it would be relevant. Without oversimplifying it: everyone’s looking at China, everyone’s looking at America, and everyone’s looking at how they’re going to interact. China is on the rise and it’s on people’s minds.
It’s not a didactic play. David is not trying to teach the audience, it’s more about exposure. There’s not a through line about how to do business in China. It’s showing what’s happening.
AD: What do you hope audiences take away from Chinglish?
SP: A greater interest in China and the relationship between China and America. Maybe an increased willingness to learn about China and be more open to the idea of cultural exchange.
In theatre, East Asian themes are not historically explored or presented much. In musical theatre, for example, you may have Miss Saigon or Flower Drum Song, but apart from that, Broadway musicals and plays can perhaps be seen from a Chinese point of view as a closed door. They’re not exploring themes that are relevant to the Chinese. Chinglish is exploring what’s relevant to both. It’s discussing China as much as it’s discussing the United States, exploring the differences and similarities between the two.
I would love to see more Chinese people in the audience. In Chicago I saw more Chinese people than I’ve ever seen at a show. Naturally, that’s because of the nature and theme of the play. If this opens it out to make it part of universal cultural life, it’s a good thing.
Humor is not necessarily a huge part of Chinese entertainment. Typically, there are not many sitcoms in China. Lots of it is period drama and war, or stories of family despair. The model of laughing is not very strong in Chinese television. That’s one of David’s goals as well: when we laugh, we open up more; and when we’re open, we can communicate better.
STEPHEN PUCCI (Peter Timms) Stephen Pucci makes his Broadway debut, after the world premiere of CHINGLISH (Goodman Theatre, Chicago). UK/Europe credits include Manor (Soho Studio Theatre/Tristan Bates Theatre); British Animation Award-nominated Glover(National Film Theatre); Absent (Royal Opera House); Your Nation Loves You (Lyric Hammersmith Studio Theatre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream(Cochrane Theatre/Shakespeare Festival du Quercy). Stephen trained at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama and holds a BA in Mandarin Chinese from Leeds University/Tianjin Normal University.