From the moment it begins, it’s clear that “The North China Lover” will be a play about more than the romance mentioned in the title.
It’s about memory—a story told through the distance of time.
First, we hear the sound of a typewriter. When the lights come up at Lookingglass Theatre, an older woman (Deanna Dunagan) is standing next to a writing table. “This is a book. This is a play. This is a film,” she announces, before warning us that she’s an unreliable narrator. The details of the story we’re about to hear may or may not be true, she says.
Dunagan proceeds to describe many of the things we see in the theater’s black box of a set. It’s as if her nameless character is conjuring up images and sounds from her past. Normally, it’s redundant for a narrator to tell us the same information we’re seeing and hearing. But in this elegantly staged drama—adapted and directed by Heidi Stillman from Marguerite Duras’ novel—it feels absolutely necessary.
Actress Rae Gray plays a French schoolgirl in Indochina in the 1930s who has an affair with a wealthy 27-year-old Chinese man (Tim Chiou). She’s simply called “the child.” He’s “the lover.” But as Dunagan’s character hovers in the background of every scene, it’s obvious she’s the same person as “the child” in her story.
Gray portrays the younger version of the character with disarming frankness. At first, her older counterpart concentrates on simply telling the story. But as “The North China Lover” unfolds, Dunagan subtly begins to reveal more of the older woman’s feelings about this haunting memory of her first heartbreak. Her sense of nostalgia doesn’t hide some troubling aspects of this taboo-breaking tale about a teenage girl’s sexual awakening.
Even though we’re kept at a distance from the story, it draws us in. And even though the narrator is supposedly unreliable, the story feels authentic. While the rest of the cast is strong, it’s Dunagan who finally delivers deep feelings of regret and loss with her captivating performance.
“The North China Lover” continues through November 10 at Lookingglass Theatre Company, 821 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago. For tickets and show times, visit Lookingglass Theatre’s website or call 312-337-0665.
