A touching story about mother-daughter bonds in 'The Joy Luck Club'

MANILA, Philippines — “Mothers know best,” so the saying goes. But do they really?

Local theater group Repertory Philippines profoundly tackles in their staging of Amy Tan’s bestselling novel, “The Joy Luck Club,” the relationship between mothers and daughters and the repercussions of difference in cultures and the repression of painful memories. The play resonates with Pinoys, too, because many of us have Chinese blood and it is staged just days after the Chinese New Year.

The play, which was also based on Susan Kim’s theater adaptation of the book (which was made into a film in 1993), centers on eight women---four mothers who bond over mah jong (they called themselves “The Joy Luck Club”) and the lives of their respective daughters.

These mothers, An-Mei Hsu (Pinky Marquez), Lindo Jong (Frances Makil Ignacio), Ying-Ying St. Clair (Jay Valencia Glorioso), and Suyuan Woo (Rebecca Chuaunsu) migrated to San Francisco, California where they raised their daughters Jing-Mei Woo (Ana Abad Santos), Waverly Jong (Cris Villonco), Rose Hsu Jordan (Jenny Jamora) and Lena St. Clair (Lily Chu), in the hopes that they would have a better life as American citizens or, in their words, “swallow more Coca-Cola than sorrow.”

In doing so, however, unintended gaps form between them and their daughters, giving rise to deep familial and personal issues.

With eight narrators who have eight different yet connected tales to tell, it may have been a Herculean task translating the book into a two-hour theater show. It helped tremendously that the cast, particularly the main actresses, not only precisely adapted the accents and nuances---which largely represented the cultural differences between the mothers and daughters---but also finely integrated the joys, sorrows, and “secret wishes” of the characters they play.

They kept the stage alive, which bore a minimalist set---comprised merely of wooden or cushioned boxes, as well as a big, movable one. “Joy,” under the direction of Anton Juan, also stirs (and challenges) the imagination through its production design and helpful well-timed sound effects. The most elaborate moment the stage got, the festive scene featuring the “Moon Lady,” was also one of its most amusing sequences.

The play also offers a different kind of storytelling in that while the characters narrate, they re-enact the scenarios as well. The characters’ lines are poetic that in spite their beauty, they are sometimes difficult to digest (add to that the characters' Chinese accent). It’s like a book or poem that one sitting will not suffice in order to fully grasp their meaning.

Sometimes humorous, sometimes heart-wrenching, but always heart-warming, “The Joy Luck Club” depicts the ultimate testament of a mother’s love, and the unbelievable yet remarkable, almost heroic sacrifices they can and will do for their children.

Mothers may not always know best for their daughters, but they definitely want the best for them.

source: manila bulleti