MADAMA BUTTERFLY – EIN INTERNATIONALES REWRITE MIT YELLOW BUTTERFLIES, AVATAREN UND SAILOR MOON

First performed in 1904, the opera 'Madama Butterfly' tells the story of a geisha who marries an American officer and takes her own life when he leaves her for a new, American wife. Satoko Ichihara uncovers the racist and sexist clichés in this work and transposes the story to a world of wild fantasy.

Curtain up, projections on: in an unsettlingly sombre fairy-tale world, the actor Kyōko Takenaka speaks to avatars ranging from Sailor Moon to the Portuguese missionary about the inferiority complexes of Japanese women in the face of western ideals of beauty. Is bearing the child of a gaijin, an American stranger, the solution? The international cast becomes involved in a passionate argument about desire from exoticism to self-betrayal, about American dicks and the beauty of manga girls and the Virgin Mary.

Packed with humorous images and combative debates, eccentric characters and disjunctions from pop culture: Satoko Ichihara’s first production outside Japan combines unexpected images with unsparingly direct words.

Text, Regie: Satoko Ichihara
Dramaturgie: Tine Milz
Bühne, Kostüm: Stefan Britze
Videokunst, Avatare: Juan Ferrari
Mit: Yan Balistoy, Brandy Butler, Sascha Ö. Soydan, Kyōko Takenaka
Englische Übersetzung: Aya Ogawa
Dolmetscherin: Kanoko Tamura
Regieassistenz: Sarah Calörtscher
Ausstattungsassistenz: Umaj Barth
Videohospitanz, Animationen: Sara Bissen
Produktionsleitung: Stéphane Noël (Materialise)

In Auftrag gegeben von Theater Neumarkt, Zürich, und Makiko Yamazato für die Q Theatre Company, Tokio. Eine Koproduktion von Q Theatre Company, Tokio, Zürcher Theater Spektakel und Theater Neumarkt, Zürich. Mit Unterstützung des Kinosaki International Arts Center, Toyooka, und des Arts Council Tokyo.