The production of M. Butterfly surprised me on so many aspects. This adaption of the story is nothing like anything I imagined, which is what makes it so unique and really makes the audience think and influences them to broaden their perspectives on the play. The set design was very intriguing, it was very minimalist in the beginning with the mobile boards and the chair and then gradually got more elaborate with more moving pieces and furniture. Despite the new props that were added in addition the set boards were always there in some ways to remind the audience that this is a flashback. The transition from scene to scene was signified by the boards so in a way they were almost like the equivalent of pages or chapters in a book. Also as the play went on the set complex, just like Song and Gallimard’s relationship and at the ending scene the set went back to being bare representing the fact that their relationship which once blossomed is now nonexistent.
Another factor of the production which interested me was the exceptional acting. The actors surprised me by breaking the 4th wall on several occasions. This occurred in the arguable cour scene climax when Gallimard says does not want to relive the court scene and also when the officer comes into Songs house and Song asks her for a baby. Gallimard desperately wants another ending for his tragic story and several times he said that he looks for one, but fails to find one. He even tried ending the story at the reunion of him and his butterfly, but Song tells him that the audience must know the entire story, not just the parts he reminisces and fantasizes about. At the end we posed with the question, we don’t know if Gallimard loves Song or really even his “butterfly.” I personally think he was just obsessed and in love with the idea of his butterfly. The fact that women would yield to him was what he subconsciously always wanted and when he saw the opportunity where his fantasy can come true, he took it. Just like Song stated when they first met, European men were infatuated with the idea that an oriental women would fall for a European and would give up her life for him. Song even suggests a role and race reversal, if European women fell for a Chinese businessman who then proceeded to betray her. Song tried to show a more raw take on the opera Madama Butterfly, but Gallimard, ever the romantic, acknowledged it but never understood it and became or took the role Madama Butterfly in the end. The ending scene where Gallimard put Madame Butterflies’ makeup on is when he realized his fate and his tragic story.
I agree: I love the play so much! There’s honestly so many things to expand upon, but I really like the topics you chose: the sets and the breaking of the fourth wall. The set design was really well done, being able to change from minimalist grey walls to a loud, clashing color palette during performances. The way it flipped boards really felt like a storybook, with a sudden, but appropriate, change in scenes and emotions. The breaking of the fourth wall was also a really awesome way to narrate the story: rather than simply watching the characters perform, you got an inside look to how they truly felt, and how they wanted their own stories to be told, even if it was different from the truth.
I really appreciated how you incorporated the possibility that Gallimard was more in love with the idea of having his butterfly, instead of actually being in love with Butterfly herself. I think that the way in which she was viewed as an object of his affection, instead of another person deserving of respect and love, formed his desire to have her. She was treated as some sort of a “foreign treasure,” one that Gallimard is praised for having by his male counterparts.