Thoughts about Ấm

a full page instead of just a panel this time

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I attended a performance of the play ẤM by Kim Thúy. I did not enjoy it. I wanted to enjoy it. Kim Thúy is a superstar and does not need my support or validation. She does not need anything from me. In fact, I should be grateful that there is a Kim Thúy, paving the way for Asian-Canadian artists. I recently found out that the library of a college here in Montreal is named after her. I would have never thought, as a Canadian of Vietnamese descent, that any landmarks in Canada would ever bear a Vietnamese name. That's how big Kim Thúy is.

But I still did not enjoy the play.

I've read 2 books (years ago) by Thúy, I've seen the film adaptation of one of her books, maybe I should have known what to expect from ẤM. It's not that the themes aren't interesting or impactful or relevant to current affairs, they are. However, I just find that there is no narrative or story arc in ẤM and it didn't grab my attention and the play could have been half as long or twice as long and my emotional connection or reaction to the work would have been the same: lukewarm😉. My assessment is that the play, like the 2 books I've read are a series of vignettes but there isn't a story structure where an inciting incident happens, the protagonist struggles through increasingly difficult conflicts leading to a climax and then a resolution. In a book where you can read a 2 page anecdote, followed by another short anecdote, followed by her observation about topic X, ... it works better. But in a 90 minute long play, it's not as effective (for example: Mr Bean is a great TV show but the movie is godawful).

Since I'm criticizing the work of someone who has pretty much achieve artistic immortality, here's what I would have suggested (again, Kim Thúy doesn't need anything from me and if I achieve 1/100 of the success she has, I'll pat myself on the back; also minor spoiler alert):

1. Establish that the female character always orders water at cafés because she doesn't drink coffee (was mentioned) and that the male character always orders coffees and never lets her son (it might be their son but I either missed something or the play purposely keeps this vague) drink from his cup because he finds it gross.

2. The male character increasingly becomes frustrated with how much he must concede or bifurcate to be in her life throughout the play. Every conflict pulls the 2 platforms apart (was done but not so explicitly) and the son who lies still in the water between the platforms at beginning moves more and more as the tension between the lovers grow.

3. He loses his job (happens in the play) and feels emasculated and is fed up with the relationship (it is suggested in the play that him bifurcating to join her is a sign of weakness, or that he at least feels this way). He has a job opportunity/interview in Ottawa, his hometown, which is not where they live now. He is considering leaving. They have a big fight when the platforms are as far apart as possible and the son is dancing violently, splashing water everywhere.

4. Dance scene, fade to black.

5. At a café, mother and son are there because there's no sitter for the son. She has already ordered coffee. He comes in late and is thirsty. They had given themselves this meeting to talk about whether he would leave for Ottawa or not. He gets 3 glasses of water. He lets the son drink from his cup. End.

6. Change the title to Nước, which in Vietnamese means water but also country (ẤM means warm).

These suggestions would still allow Thúy to explore the same themes in the play, they probably even allow her to keep the same dialogue, but they scaffold the play to a story structure with an increasingly boiling conflict and a resolution. Now, my suggestions might create deviations from details of her life in a work that is semi-autobiographical, but if she was willing to change the name of the characters and not use her family members' names, then I do not see why she couldn't fictionalize a bit more.

I know none of this means anything if one has not seen her play.