M. Butterfly

Due to the company’s name and its church hall venue, some people may wrongly believe that St Jude’s Players is aligned to the church. They may also therefore think it unlikely the company would risk producing plays with content that may shock, such as nudity or sexually explicit dialogue. The company’s current production of David Henry Hwang’s Tony Award-winning M. Butterfly dispels all such misapprehension; St. Jude’s has demonstrated that, like all fine and independent theatre companies, they will never shy away from a good script.

Difficult though the epic story of M. Butterfly must have been to design and perform on the small stage in St Jude’s Hall, the play’s Director John Graham, the set designer Don Oakley and the cast have created an excellent production overall.

M. Butterfly is loosely based on true events, that of an affair between a French diplomat in Beijing and a Chinese opera singer. The singer was later revealed to be a spy and this eventually led to the diplomat being imprisoned in Paris. Covering a period of forty years and set in France and China, the story has parallels with Puccini’s iconic opera Madame Butterfly.

James Whitrow produces a stellar performance as Rene Gallimard, who tells his story from his prison cell in a series of sequential vignettes. Often speaking directly to the audience, Whitrow has the lion’s share of the dialogue, while creating a completely believable and nuanced character. 

James Edwards is riveting in a towering performance as Song Liling; one simply cannot take one’s eyes from him whenever he is on stage. The five-minute break between act two and three is an example of this. The house lights come up slightly, but the audience is not to leave the hall. Song Liling’s presence on stage transfixes those watching, as in a slow and controlled transformation, the true ‘Butterfly’ emerges.

The developing dynamics in the personal relationship between Rene Gallimard and Song Liling are sensitively and realistically created by Whitrow and Edwards. 

Particularly as Rene’s sexist friend Marc, but in each of his three various roles, Benjamin Orchard demonstrates versatility and produces a very good performance.

Dealing with only brief moments on stage to develop her character, Kyla Booth still shows the psychological isolation that Rene’s wife Helga endures.

As with the character of Helga, all other featured characters are fairly superficially explored in the script, but Chanelle Le Roux, David Rapkin and Kristin Telfer do good work with what the script does provide.

Martin Wong and Fiona Chen do well with various characterisations in an essentially wordless ensemble of two.

It’s good to see local Asian actors such as Telfer, Wong and Chan giving authenticity to the Chinese roles.

Uneven accents for some actors let the production down.

St Jude’s Players is always innovative in the use of its small stage and this production is no exception. Don Oakley’s design successfully juxtaposes the atmosphere of the Beijing settings with those in France, including Rene Gallimard’s prison cell.

Costumes, particularly those of Song Liling, are excellent.

Director John Graham has designed the scene containing male nudity sensitively and effectively.

The additional themes concerning societal attitudes towards relationships within the double contexts of man vs woman and West vs East add meat to the narrative.

Although M. Butterfly is a very long play, the audience on opening night remained completely absorbed in the story and performance.

Highly recommended for all theatre lovers who enjoy confronting yet deeply affecting drama.

Lesley Reed

Photographer Les Zetlein