Theatre in Review: The Subtle Body (Gold No Trade/59E59)

	Stephanie Thompson, Michael Zlabinger, Ya Han Chang, Johnny Wu. Photo: Erik Carter

Unless you are extremely well versed in the medical history of the 18th century, you are probably unaware of John Floyer, the protagonist of The Subtle Body, a play that has the odd distinction of being one of the most literate as well as one of the silliest plays in town just now. A true man of the Enlightenment, he traveled to China in 1702, hoping to trade his Western scientific knowledge for an awareness of Asian healing wisdom. Among other things, he returned with an understanding of how to measure a patient's pulse rate, by calculating it over the course of a minute with the aid of a watch. If you believe Megan Campisi's play, which converts scientific history into frequently giddy sex farce, Floyer lost his wife, Charlotte, in the process.

When introduced, Floyer is planning a book about Chinese medical practices, but, three months after his arrival, he has yet to meet a single local doctor and his money is running out. In the meantime, he has adopted an all-noodle diet, a choice that perplexes Charlotte, who, among other things, is forced to weigh him constantly and keeps pointing out that his health has declined noticeably. When she quite sensibly points out that "a diet composed of a variety of foodstuffs is best for the overall health," Floyer, establishing his bona fides as a prime Enlightenment fathead, says, "But is your view derived from science? Then how can we know it's credible?" Later, describing another form of treatment, he says, "It might work in practice, but does it work in theory?"

John's translator, Wang, sets up an appointment with a certain Dr. Zhang, who, John hopes, will treat an ailing female for him. He cries out, "I need a woman!" leading to the following exchange of double entendres with the neglected Charlotte:

Floyer: Now the idea is in my head, I shan't be able to sleep. I suppose I shall have to do something about it.

Charlotte: Don't be so dour. I remember a time when you used to enjoy this sort of thing.

Floyer: Yes, I should try to look on it as more than a burdensome chore.

Charlotte: Perhaps I might make it more stimulating...if you're open to new possibilities?

Floyer: What, you want to come, too?

Charlotte: It might be a nice change.

Dr. Zhang amazes Floyer with his technique: Simply by sniffing his patients and examining their hands, he pronounces Floyer as ailing and Charlotte as suffering from too many repressed passions. In return, Floyer lectures Zhang on the achievement of the great Western physicians, making them sound like total idiots in the process. Aristotle, he notes, "took a human brain and put it in a pot of boiling water," adding, "through this experiment, he discovered the composition of the human brain: water and earth!" He pauses and adds, "He was not accurate." "So sorry, but I was hoping to hear about advances in Western science," Zhang replies. William Harvey, Floyer points out, removed a dog's heart and filled it with water, learning that it "circulates the blood." "So why did they kill the dog?" mutters Zhang. "I have no idea," whispers Wang, the translator. Floyer also describes the Renaissance healer Paracelsus and how he cured syphilis by rubbing mercury on the penises of his patients. I leave it to you to imagine the fun The Subtle Body has with that.

Floyer fails to grasp Zhang's remarkable diagnostic skills, which are founded upon an ability to examine the "mo," which, he explains, consists of "a set of conduits flowing throughout the body that may be felt to know the organs and systems." Meanwhile, Charlotte, who has learned to her horror that Floyer has spent all of her dowry on this misbegotten trip, finds herself getting cozy with Wang, the translator. This sets up another lengthy round of sniggering gags. Discussing Chinese cuisine, it involves the difference between pork buns and noodles. As Wang notes, "I have my wife's dumplings at home, you have your husband's noodles." Charlotte, in a fury, cries, "His noodles are wet!"

The second half of The Subtle Body tracks Floyer's declining health and his attempts to retrieve Charlotte, who has run away and assumed the status of Wang's wife, an arrangement that perplexes Wang Furen, his current spouse. She actually rather likes the idea of another woman in the household, as it reaffirms her status as the first wife; she does, however, wonder why Wang must marry a foreign barbarian.

An extremely awkward marriage of medical history with burlesque show gagging, The Subtle Body aims for Tom Stoppard-style high comedy, landing at a rather lower level. As if to underscore the culture clash at the heart of the comedy, the entire play is delivered with surtitles. The English dialogue is rendered in Mandarin and vice versa, a device that sometimes proves distracting. (The Chinese translation is by Grant Zhong) Then again, if anyone in the play ever came across as remotely serious about a passion for knowledge or, well, for passion, they might not be so easy to dismiss.

Under Michael Leibenluft's uncertain direction, the script's already too-obvious points are rammed home with a hammer. This weakest work comes from Michael Zlabinger, whose Floyer is such a preening ass from the get-go that one practically roots for Charlotte to escape. Stephanie Thompson has a much better grasp of high comedy style as Charlotte, although like those noodles, her dialogue is usually all wet. Johnny Wu gives Wang a certain amount of charm, and his scenes with Charlotte have a delicacy that is missing elsewhere. The actress Ya Han Chang pulls off a fairly remarkable double act as the skeptical Dr. Zhang and the bemused Wang Furen.

Cate McCrea's simple, but effective, set design frames the action in a bamboo structure that is interestingly backlit by Mary Ellen Stebbins. Isabelle Coler's blue-and-white costumes strike a reasonable contrast between Eastern and Western styles. Eric Sluyter's sound design relies heavily on an effect suggesting Floyer's scale in action.

But The Subtle Body is so busy telegraphing its intentions that we are always one step ahead of the characters. Campisi's agenda -- to emphasize the fatuity of patriarchal Enlightenment attitudes -- is too nakedly on display. As a result, The Subtle Body is anything but.--David Barbour