M Butterfly Review

 

M Butterfly is not the opera. I want to get that clear before I write anything else because I have a gut feeling that people are looking at the publicity for this amazing production and in the back of their minds the opera is putting them off buying tickets; because frankly ticket sales at the moment could be better, and I’m extremely disappointed in Perth for it.  

I will also clarify that knowing several of the cast and the director I am biased. So I will attempt to write this review of the brilliant show I was lucky enough to see without bias and without spoilers (from now).  

Directed by Barry Park, M Butterfly is the story of Rene Gallimard (Eliot McCann), a French diplomat who falls in love with a Chinese actress, Song Liling, who commits the deepest of betrayals.

Rene is madly in love with Butterfly (as he calls Song Liling, played by Chuck McComb) and as such he is blinded to everything else around him, including Butterfly’s true nature. The story suggests that as a Westerner he is too eager to believe that an Oriental woman would be completely submissive to his superiority to even consider that she would have an ulterior motive for being with him.

 

This play touches on some very controversial topics, and while there are some moments which can be very shocking to those more conservative audience members, Mr. Park has approached the play with the utmost delicacy and has done a marvellous job of directing the actors to have complete respect for the story they are sharing.  

There was never a feel of waste to this production; the entire stage was used to perfection with very clear barriers between each setting. And the movement of each of the lead characters between scenes was kept interesting with more expounding of the story and the background behind what the audience was about to see.  

I felt like the storytelling by Rene and Butterfly was actually helpful in explaining a lot of the action that took place offstage and would have dragged the play out too much. It also showed a different dynamic in the relationship between the two characters and shows the changes in power, while also showing the audience just how much of the story is the way Rene wishes it had happened and what Butterfly knows happened.  

Finally the part I am most biased about. The two lead actors Chuck McComb and Eliot McCann were magnificent. I don’t say this because I only say nice things about people who are my friends, I say this as someone who has been around these two actors when they are being themselves; as someone who knows when the people they are seeing on stage are no longer the people they know in everyday life. What I was watching on stage was a true performance of genius that is not to be missed.

Yeah so much for avoiding bias. The only thing I found that disappointed me about this show was the lack of audience to see such a piece of craftsmanship. If you do not even just attempt to make the last four performances of this show you are doing yourself a disservice. If you have seen the show and have not recommended the show to others, what are you waiting for?! The final performances are this Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30pm in the Dolphin Theatre at UWA. Get your tickets at the door or buy them online from http://www.trybooking.com/ 32475  

 

Here here, completely agree. Excellent production that I feel privileged to have seen. Fantastic cast, and with the perfect tragic comedic storyline, something for everyone. Theatre at its best.

Hear hear, even.

YOUR VERY LAST CHANCE TO SEE THIS BRILLIANT PLAY! IT CLOSES THIS SATURDAY. BOOK NOW! M. BUTTERFLY receives critical acclaim: Theatre Australia reviews: ‘Excellent show! Well done to all concerned… last night was flawless… I can't imagine this play being produced much better at any level of professionalism…. Director Barry Park deserves the highest praise, as do the entire cast and particularly the two principals.’ Jonno Beckett ‘Brilliant show, fantastic cast, superbly staged… A beautiful production… If you see one more show this year, I highly suggest you see this one…. Well done, GRADS for continuing to put on theatre like it is meant to be seen… This is quality drama at its best.’ David Gregory ‘I … can't recommend it highly enough! ... Congratulations to Barry Park on directing a fine piece of theatre! ... Leads Charles McComb and Eliot McCann gave an outstanding performance of passion, honesty and conviction. This is a well-written and powerful script that requires an equally strong cast that can keep up with it and give it the justice that it deserves and this cast has certainly risen to the occasion!’ Manuao Teaotonga ‘Eliot’s portrayal of the diplomat is so finely tuned and honest. Transitions from an ageing and bitter prisoner to a youthful and lustful younger man, simply done with a change in voice and facial expression, so convincing… Mr McComb … was the perfect choice for this character. His scenes with Eliot were absorbing, intense, emotional… A perfect pairing of two talented men who gave so much to each other to work with and against… The scene between [Tiana Morgan] and Eliot where their future relationship was determined was so well played in its brutal sincerity, a memorable moment in a production where there were many… it is one of the best community theatre productions I have seen. Don’t miss it.’ Geoff Leeder ‘This play touches on some very controversial topics, and while there are some moments which can be very shocking to those more conservative audience members, Mr. Park has approached the play with the utmost delicacy and has done a marvellous job of directing the actors to have complete respect for the story they are sharing… The cast were superb. And I mean all of them. The ensemble was fluid and worked brilliantly as a team… Character changes were seamless… the entire stage was used to perfection... The two lead actors Chuck McComb and Eliot McCann were magnificent… What I was watching on stage was a true performance of genius that is not to be missed.’ Thérèse Cruise www.grads.org.au GRADS, by arrangement with Hal Leonard Australia Pty. Ltd, on behalf of Dramatists Play Services, Inc. New York, presents The sensational award winning play M. BUTTERFLY by David Henry Hwang Directed by Barry Park Dolphin Theatre, UWA 2, 3, 7 to 10, 14 to 17 November, at 7.30pm. This landmark play, the first by an Asian-American to win universal acclaim, launched David Henry Hwang to the forefront of the new American theatre and was soon established as one of the most celebrated of recent American plays. It was an immediate critical and popular success, winning numerous awards when first produced in 1988, including the Tony Award for Best Play of the Year, the New York Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Broadway play, and the John Gassner Award for the season's outstanding new playwright. In 1986, a French diplomat fell in love with a Chinese actress who turned out to be not only a spy, but a man. The Frenchman had never seen his lover naked, because he believed her modesty was a “Chinese custom.” From this intriguing news story, David Henry Hwang crafted ‘M. BUTTERFLY’, an epic play tracing lines of race, gender and power through love and deception. An evocative and beautiful blend of theatrical styles and voices, the play is a tour de force that cuts to the heart of the distortions that pollute cross-cultural interactions. It has become a modern classic, beautifully blending the power and politics of the opera ‘Madame Butterfly’ and a contemporary world in which sexuality identity issues have become a topic of open discussion and dialogue. Weaving into the play many parallels with, and ultimately ironic reversals of, Puccini's opera, ‘Madama Butterfly’, Hwang explores the stereotypes that underlie, distort and threaten relations between Eastern and Western culture, and between men and women. Bored with his routine posting in Beijing, and awkward with women, French diplomat Rene Gallimard is easy prey for the subtle, delicate charms of Song Liling, a Chinese opera star who personifies Gallimard's fantasy vision of submissive, exotic oriental sexuality. She is to him, the ‘perfect woman,’ yet this Chinese butterfly of his passions is ultimately revealed to be far more than she seems. During his twenty-year affair, he passes her diplomatic secrets, which leads to his imprisonment. The stunningly theatrical play becomes a powerful metaphor for the exploration of deep themes; the perception of Eastern culture by the West, and the persistent romanticism which clouds and inhibits that perception. ‘For the myths of the East, the myths of the West, the myths of men, and the myths of women – these have so saturated our consciousness that truthful contact between nations and lovers can only be the work of heroic effort. Those who prefer to bypass the work involved will remain in a world of surfaces, misperceptions running rampant. This is, to me, the convenient world in which the French diplomat and the Chinese spy lived. This is why, after twenty years, he learned nothing at all about his lover, not even the truth of his sex.’ (David Henry Hwang, Afterword to ‘M. Butterfly’, 1988) Barry Park directed the highly successful GRADS productions of All My Sons and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

It has all been said in the previous reviews. I very much enjoyed this quality production. A very strong cast. If you're free tonight or tomorrow, go see it. www.meltheco.org.au

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR FOR TONIGHT'S PERFORMANCE: YOUR VERY LAST CHANCE TO SEE THIS SENSATIONAL PLAY.

Much has been said about this show, and most deservedly so. I will confess, that my going along was initially in support of a cast member. The story as told via the event flyer didn't grab me, but leter, the positive reviews, and news that audiences were less than desired, I had more than one reason to go. After witnessing the closing nights performance I can but feel the Butterfyl cast and crew were robbed in not having full houeses for every performance. If ever a production deserved of the 'sold out' sign then this was it. I'd go so far as to say it was worthy of includion in our forthcoming Perth International Arts Festival, which leads me to beleive that it's way time Community theatre started banging on the door of the festival organisers demanding a spot in the festivities. Can there be a more perfect showcase for Community theatre? To close, special congrats to the backstage crew who I'm told had only 4 days to beump and set....take a bow people. Sensational effort. cheers Johnny Grim