Criticism > Drama Criticism > Chin, Frank - The Chickencoop Chinaman

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THE CHICKENCOOP CHINAMAN

PRODUCTION REVIEWS

Michael Feingold (review date 15 June 1972)

SOURCE: "Portnoy's Chinese Complaint," in The Village Voice, 15 June 1972, p. 56.

[Feingold offers a mixed assessment of The Chicken-coop Chinaman, arguing that, "though blossoming all over with good writing, well-caught characters, and sharply noted situations, [it] is only about three-quarters finished as a play."]

The Chickencoop Chinaman will not be serving your shrimp Szechuan in a family restaurant, nor is he likely to be the one demanding a tickee when you go to pick up your shirts at the laundry. Tam Lum, the title character of Frank Chin's first produced play, is a young filmmaker, a resolutely monologizing surrogate for the playwright, who is deeply involved in extricating himself from his ethnic background: not in repudiating it, but coming to terms with it. And, of course, the more he tries to get out...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Overviews And General Studies
4. The Chickencoop Chinaman
5. Critical Commentary
6. The Year Of The Dragon
7. Copyright

1. Drama