Central to the intricately layered story line of Roland Schimmelpfennig’s “The Golden Dragon” is a mythical tale of an ant and a cricket.
This is not surprising when the observer begins to realize that this entire play is in many ways the story of a human ant hill: a single building of several stories, anchored by the eponymous, miscellaneously Asian restaurant at its base.
It is the story of busy workers, the fragility born of immigrant status, and the particular privilege those who do not spend their days looking over their shoulders bring with them into this almost closed society.
Still, in the production now at The Theatre at Boston Court in Pasadena, the first thing one becomes fascinated by in the midst of the symbolism and complexity of intertwining tales is the show’s staging.
Five actors of disparate ages, genders and ethnicities play all the many people who create the play, often doing so completely against type and sliding in and out of story and personhood with the efficiency and élan of a beautiful machine. It is simply remarkable to watch from that aspect alone, though director Michael Michetti has utilized this talented group to create individual after individual who are engrossing as well.
The most obviously interesting of the many, many portraits take the actors beyond gender. Justin H. Min creates the fragile “cricket,” a young woman held captive by a manipulative old man, played by Ann Colby Stocking. Joseph Kamal and Theo Perkins are flight attendants who eat at the restaurant until one of them makes an odd find in her soup.
Susana Batras becomes an immigrant Chinese kitchen boy whose rotting tooth becomes a problem for the entire kitchen staff of The Golden Dragon to deal with. In each case, and more, their portraits are intricately convincing, truly an homage to the power of live theater to let the imagination work.
The individual tales, of the cricket, the lascivious drunken shopkeeper, the adoring couple torn apart by an unexpected pregnancy, the old man dreaming of things he cannot have, the flight attendants’ meaningless relationships, and always that kitchen staff trying to figure out what to do with the howling young man, slide in and out of focus, shifting in waves back and forth.
It is as if a classic play like “La Ronde,” in which individual characters link one separate scene to the next until there is a circle, had been set on its ear, with all the scenes sliding together and playing almost at once.
And again, what makes this work is the quality and timing of the cast and the impressive rhythm of Michetti’s direction. As the play, which is performed without intermission, flows over the audience, more is absorbed than can be processed right away. That is also a tradition of Boston Court: plays that must be pondered afterward.
Also worth a nod is the Brechtian, nonrepresentational set, made almost entirely of painter’s scaffolding, by Sara Ryung Clement. Stephanie Kerley Schwartz’s simple costuming lets actors slide from character to character with ease.
Annie Yee’s choreography, particularly when coupled with the nearly choreographic synchrony of more base movements, enhances the storytelling, while John Nobori’s sound design gives an important cultural texture to the piece.
Go see “The Golden Dragon.” There are levels of empathy which will stay with you long after you leave, though some of it proves increasingly disturbing the more one thinks about it. There is an amazingly smooth, well-articulated piece of performance to revel in. And, of course, there is a theatrical magic that only a live theater can make you believe.
Frances Baum Nicholson has been reporting on the Los Angeles area theater scene for more than 35 years. To read more of her reviews, visit www.stagestruckreview.com.
Want to go?
Rating: 4 stars
When: Through June 5; 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, and $5 night 8 p.m. June 1.
Where: The Theatre at Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena.
Tickets: $35 general, $30 senior, $20 student.
Information: 626-683-6883 or www.bostoncourt.com.
