The Place, London
February 25, 2025
Madam Butterfly is a deeply political work. Puccini’s original version (he wrote five in all) premièred just 43 years after the Risorgimento (‘Rising Again’) that culminated in the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, itself just a few years after gunboat diplomacy had been used to penetrate the formerly closed markets of Japan. No mere love story, it is a tale of imperialism, colonialism and, in a way, feminism. Cio-Cio San is looking firmly west.
This is all put to one side in Carlos Pons Guerra’s Mariposa, situated in down-at-heel Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s, and with Cio Cio San a dockside brothel owner. It is important to remember that it is inspired by Madam Butterfly, however, and is not a retelling, as difficult as I found that. While Mariposa has a potentially strong narrative, most connection to Madame Butterfly is lost in what is a too-often muddled scenario. A reimagining maybe, but in quite a loose way.
with Elle Fierce and Harry Alexander
It is not the female madam who is the central character here, but a male version thereof, the mariposa of the title. The opening section is loaded with sexual choreography, mostly between Mariposa (Harry Alexander) and the Pinkerton figure, here called Preston (Dan Baines), with additional contributions by the ensemble as sex tourists. The duet in particular is not without choreographic interest, especially the lifts, but I found what I considered the overly overt sexual nature unnecessary. One odd moment sees a female incarnation of Butterfly in the shape of the brothel keeper bouréeing frantically in the background while the orgy is whipped up centre stage.
I am guessing the men in gold skirts and over-the-top head dresses who appear and dance with Mariposa are Santeria spirits, although it was around here I got lost. Things get even more surreal when four women wrap Mariposa up in fabric, not unlike a mummy.
Photo Nacho Gonzalez
Act Two sees Mariposa don pointe shoes, the ultimate in female dance dress. Puccini’s heroine changes religion to marry Pinkerton. Mariposa relinquishes his sexuality in an attempt to keep hold of Preston. A dance is all piqués and bourées but it’s to no avail. Preston leaving, having presumably decided that he prefers a heterosexual life.
Mariposa is abandoned to his fate, dying of an AIDS-related illness in the 1980s, so the programme informs us, but not before he is turned into a sort of Dying Swan. Nice ports de bras, by the way.
Luis Miguel Cobo’s score, which takes its inspiration from Caribbean sounds as well as Puccini, mostly it felt repeated excerpts of the ‘Humming Chorus’ and ‘Un Bel di Vedremo,’ is disappointing.