John Ringer
Theatre 200-90
October 2, 2017
Laura Standley, Jeremy Winchester
Viet Gone Has All Along Been a Different Note of the Same Song
As a modern and ever evolving society with a constant thirst for change, how can anything thrive or establish it’s permanance? For most things that have miraculously stayed relevant in society, the answer is either unknown or unclear; but for art forms, and in this instance, theatre, the answer lies in the illusion of change. The fact that the faces, elements, and styles of all art forms are constantly changing creates an excellent phacade that distracts from the fact that the main frame of it all is remaining close to the same as it always has! The uses, properties, and power behind it all has remained constant for thousands of years, yet on the outside it is ever changing, satisfying the mass’s thirst for change, yet still establishing its permanance!
It is quite an astonishing feat to think about. This theory seemlessly combines what is known to have worked in the past with constant adaptions to what works throughout different times. And what is most amazing about it all is it makes sense. Even if it sounds confusing now, if plays throughout various times are analyzed, completely different works with far too many similarities to be coincidental can be seen clearly. These plays are all different, yes, and some do stick out even for their time, but the similarities in them are quite noteable. They are all just different notes and adaptations that make up the same song that has been played for thousands and thousands of years.
This main frame of similarities is mostly made up of Aristotle’s Elements of Drama, and from there, the differences between times and works are abundant. A great example of this is Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone; it is a very unique play for our time, yet it still seems eerily similar upon investigation. Vietgone is wonderfully diverse in the fact that the play is based in the Vietnamese point of view to the point where though the play is in English, Americans in the play speak a very broken and misunderstood version of English to portray how they sound in Vietnamese to the Vietnamese. Not many plays have ever had this take on perspective, and this aspect alone makes it a very unique play indeed.
Yet this wonderfully diverse play still has some major ties to virtually every other play that is known. Aristotle’s Elements of Drama vary quite a bit, depending on who is speaking. Though this may be different in the eyes of different people, one version of these elements is: plot, character, thought, diction, music, and spectacle. The vast majority of plays from all ages and spectrums tend to have these elements in them, in fact it is quite hard to create a work without them!
Vietgone is no stranger to these elements either. Nguyen uses a wide variety of time and location hops throughout this piece to unravel and stitch together his intricate plot. His use of foreshadowing is excellent in forming his plot as well; the first majorly noticeable example being the moment when one of the main character, Nhan, asks his bestfriend, Quang, “So how’d she take it?”. As the scene continues, the two friends reveal that Quang had been seeing a girl in a refugee camp in the US since his arrival, and had gotten very close to her despite his denial of anything between them. The audience does not know this now, but Quang does indeed have a secretive lover in that camp, as well as a wife and kids back and Vietnam. This is the opening scene (proceding the introduction), and the audience is bound to be riddled with questions at this point. Who is this girl? How did these two friends get to America, and why are they trying so hard to get back to Vietnam? These questions, in turn, do a wonderful job of setting up a plot line, which will soon be unraveled as the story progresses; the best stories keep the audience guessing.
Nguyen also uses such an excellent form of character development, that intial impressions immediatley differ from impressions given off by the second scene. At first, it is easy to believe that Nhan is the sensible one, and Quang is the irresponsible, childish friend of the two. As soon as scene two begins, somehow transporting the story so far back that the two are both still in Vietnam, those initial impressions are immediately reversed, and the audience then sees throughout the story how each character got to the point where they were at in the first scene.
The thought and issues presented in this piece are excellent as well. There is such a wide variety of issues throughout the story that at first, it is quite hard to figure out what the main issue is. In the first scene, Quang says “The plan is to drive to California. Catch a plane to Guam. Then once we’re in Guam, we just hop a boat back to Vietnam. That’s a solid ass plan.”. This leaves the audience under the impression that the main issue and theme of this play is the two friends’ journey back to Vietnam. It isn’t clearly revealed until Quang returns from his road trip to his secret lover saying “I came to see you obviously.” in the final scene, that the main issue wasn’t a physical journy, it was an emotional one.
So far, Nguyen has done an excellent job of being unique and diverse as well as fitting into the main frame that the majority of plays fit into. And Vietgone continues with this pattern. The diction in this play is heavily involved, therefor making the play fit into it’s classic structure even more so, yet oddly it is also one of the things that make this play stick out the most among others. As was mentioned earlier, Nguyen uses a Vietnamese perspective figuratively and quite literally, so that the audience hears the Americans speak to them how the Vietnamese hear them speak. From phrases quoted as “You happy making me very much.” to “Me am pirate king hi-ho Midway.”, Nguyen does quite the excellent job making the diction of this story stand out.
Even the music in this piece is quite unique; instead of traditional singing and theatrical songs, Vietgone uses its music to help convey its message through the platform of rap music. This is quite odd for any play, and only makes this one stand out further. Through long and intracate hip-hop verses, the characters highlight points that could verywell have been swept under the carpet without the use of music. And this untraditional form of musical conveyance helps transform this play even more into the unique peice that it is.
All of these aspects of a play’s main frame create quite the spectacle. Every part of this play requires rapid scene changes, vigourous movements, a different form of presentation, and not to mention the ninja fight scene that takes place! These all contribute to the spectacle of the play, and quite frankly, without one aspect of this main frame present, the others fail to seem entirely complete.
Every element of Aristotole’s Elements of Drama intertwine together, and work in harmony. Together they create a strong structure, a strong main frame, much like that of a boat. If there are any cracks or missing parts, the boat is sure to sink. Vietgone does a wonderful job of being unique, but upon inspection it is revealed that it would not even be a play without its main structure of traditional elements passed down from generation to generation. It is quite easy to say that Vietgone has all along been a different note of the same song. Works Cited
Nguyen, Qui. Vietgone. Samuel French, 2017.