One thing is for certain: David Henry Hwang’s “M. Butterfly” is a complex and disturbing play.We can look at it in two ways: as about gender and sexuality, and as about delusion and idolatry.At South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa through June 8, it’s impeccably acted and provokes its audience to think about who we and others are underneath our clothes and our skins.This new (and maybe improved, maybe not) 2017 version of Hwang’s original from 1980s (it won the 1988 Tony for Best Play) centers on a man’s infatuation with another man who’s playing a woman playing a man. Gallimard’s favorite opera since he was 12 has been Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly.” Hwang references the Puccini opera in his title here, but he also changes the madame to monsieur with the initial “M.”Like Gallimard, we should have noticed that hint. But, like so many people, Gallimard would rather live in blissful delusion, idealizing the relationship, ignoring the reality so clear to most of us.Clearest to the audience here is the quality of this production.
May 23, 2019 This production has style but it’s not stylized, which makes M. Butterfly feel like a plain old complicated romantic espionage. The attempts to shock at the end — with Song stripping naked in court — feel gratuitous instead of shocking. Photos by Jordan Kubat/SCR. Butterfly South Coast Repertory 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa.
Desdemona Chiang directs, and though bits of the staging feel stagnant and repetitive, she elicits gorgeous performances from her cast.Playing Song Liling, Jake Manabat, in a solid acting choice, doesn’t seem female. But he thoroughly convinces us he’s playing one for Gallimard.Lucas Verbrugghe, as Gallimard, is an everyman and yet much more fragile than Song ever appears to be.
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Hwang gives him reasons to be fragile, by nature and from the adolescent teasing Gallimard endured.Aaron Blakely plays Gallimard’s more worldly, less caring buddy Marc, a character we might not like but one who would never have been caught in this web. Stephen Caffrey is Gallimard’s superior in the diplomatic corps, with a 1960s white American superiority we recognize from politics and entertainment.Nike Doukas is the reliable diplomat’s wife, devoting her life to her husband’s. Melody Butiu is the Communist who coaches Song in espionage. Juliana Hansen skillfully disappears into her various sweet-young-thing characters.So, we could look at Gallimard as a romantic hero, a man led solely by his heart. Or, we could look at him as a man who made horrible choices, each revealed to us as his story unfolds.But then came his choice to turn over government secrets to the Chinese, all in service of his delusions, leading to his imprisonment for, as it turns out, life.
Considering the play’s title, we know its ending.Speaking of choices, Hwang’s rewrites include the anatomical explanation of how a 20-year fraud was perpetrated, and Chiang’s direction includes Song’s full-frontal exposure.Or perhaps there are more than two ways of looking at “M. Butterfly.” It also speaks to politics, race, history, and international and personal diplomacy. Considering that some theatrical works center on no themes, it’s quite a treat to ponder this one on the drive home.Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer. Butterfly’Rating:.When: Through June 8.
Tuesdays-Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2:30, 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2:30, 7:30 p.m. SundaysWhere: South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa MesaTickets: $31-$86Length: 2 hours and 30 minutes, including intermissionSuitability: Mature teens and adults. Show includes male nudity, sexual descriptions and strong language.Information: 714-708-5555.
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