Despite having read the play before seeing the production, seeing the play live gave me a whole new perspective and experience of the message behind the play. The first thing that intrigued me were the set design boards and how they were made to simply either fold over or placed at an angle against each other to transition to another scene or location that Gallimard was at. They were also used to show the transition from the original Peking Chinese Opera that focused on love to the warlike images of communism that took over the opera to rally the Chinese together for the revolution. This transition showed me how easily influenced the public was by the government who simply took over the original aesthetic focus of singing and traditional costumes of the Peking Opera to a performance filled with war chants and outfits that carried weapons which ended pointing directly at Gallimard. Another aspect that intrigued me was the exceptional acting throughout the play, especially the scenes between Song and Gallimard and how Gallimard tried stopping the play towards the end refusing to move onto the court scene. I also found it interesting during the few times where the actors broke away from the scene and spoke asides such as the time when Song asked his comrade for a baby and Gallimard stood to the side making a remark of not wanting to show see the woman again. However, the most shocking scene was when Song stripped naked on stage to make it clear to Gallimard that he was a man and it is in this scene that we see how much Gallimard refused to believe that “his butterfly” was a man but it is clear that they did love one another. Overall, the play was well performed and gave another perspective to the play that was not present when only reading it.
I thought that it was interesting that you mentioned that actors having aside conversations. I also was intrigued by them because they made the play seem less like a narrative and more like a person reliving their life and simultaneously trying to make sense of what happened and what could have occurred differently. Time breaking of the 4th wall made the play more real and more easy to connect with the characters as we learn important things about the characters when it happens. Also, you mentioned a transition of the Peking Chinese Opera, an artistic institution turned into a medium of propaganda. At the end of the performance, they pointed their guns directly on Gallimard symbolized the events to come. I also thought it was interesting that you still believe that Gallimard and Song still love each other even after the truth came out.