Review: The White Snake

This lovely, intricate production by Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra is the most beguiling, appealing theatrical fantasy I’ve seen in years. Drawing on ancient Chinese mythology, this imaginatively staged production is visually rich and includes large puppets designed by Sacramento master craftsman Richard Bay.

There’s also good, original music from Tynowyn Woolman, a dazzling array of characters. both human and immortal, a subplot involving treachery and deceit, and above all, a central tale of enduring love.

Mary Zimmerman’s script, originally written for the Oregon Shakespeare festival and the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, blends supernatural wonder and down-to-earth dry wit. The story includes interludes with a gent carrying a huge tome called Secrets of the Chinese Drama, which provides entertaining commentary. Director Carolyn Howarth, always good with stage movement, deploys paper parasols and lanterns, bamboo poles and more to magical effect. She grasps the love story’s considerable sweep—from giddy romance and marriage through birth and death, with mystical implications—with clarity, assurance and agility. The wise and heartbreaking ending is beautifully rendered.

Paradoxes abound, as they often do in myths. The multi-ethnic cast is pan-Asian, white and black. There were a few muffed lines. Woolman’s music employs Chinese and Celtic instruments, but that’s OK—does Hamilton’s hip-hop score come from the Revolutionary War?

Is it worth driving to Nevada City to see this luminous production? Yes, because it is delightful, and also because CATS is the region’s only group staging such high caliber Asian-American theater.