M. butterfly in theatres

M.Butterfly, a production by Anemona Theatre presenting David Henry Hwang’s Tony-award-winning play will continue to be staged in Nicosia until the end of February.

The play’s story, while entwined with that of the Italian opera Madama Butterfly, is based on the relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a Peking opera singer.

Having premiered in Broadway in 1988, M.Butterfly continued to run for two years with a total of 777 shows, before being turned into a feature film in 1993.

The play tells the story of the shamed and imprisoned 65-year-old Rene Gallimard who contemplates the events that led to a shocking and embarrassing international scandal. While working for the French embassy in China, Rene fell in love with a beautiful Chinese performer.

For over 20 years, they carried on a sexual relationship and over the decades, the performer stole secrets on behalf of the Chinese communist party. But the shocking part of M. Butterfly is that the performer was a female impersonator, and Gallimard claimed that he never knew he had been living with a man all those years. Questions arise and troubles break out as the audience wonders how the Frenchman maintain a sexual relationship for over two decades without learning the truth.

M.Butterfly
Theatre performance of David Henry Hwang’s Tony-award-winning play. Until February 24. Anemona Theater, Nicosia. 8.30pm and 7pm on Sundays. In Greek. Tel: 70007721

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