DeNada bring MARIPOSA to The Lowry

Mariposa, a balletic variation with twists on Puccini’s opera Madam Butterfly, played at The Lowry for one night on Sunday 16th January. The setting has been given an occidental shift to the docks in Cuba, and the main character, Mariposa, starts out as a rent boy but ends up as something rather different.

It’s not the first time the opera has been reinterpreted in a gender fluid way. Those with long memories might remember David Hwang’s play M Butterfly, where the fact that Cio Cio San was male is glossed over by “her” lover. In Mariposa the ballet, Mariposa the rent boy undergoes a chrysalid metamorphosis, relinquishing his gender along the way and ending up female.

But, to the performance itself, which borrows a lot of its plot from the opera, and even some of its music. We entered the auditorium to the sound of the docks (blaring ships’ sirens and seagulls) where two rent boys are plying their trade.  Along comes Preston, a sailor. After a while he and Mariposa make a go of things, but it’s obvious that it’s not quite a union blessed in heaven, and, as in the original he leaves, promising to return at some stage.

Meanwhile, back at the brothel where Gertrudis (the owner) has Mariposa as a favourite, all starts to unravel and he is denounced, in much the same way as the Bonze denounced Cio Cio San. There are some good (and unexpected) vocal backing numbers that lead into Mariposa being prepared for his journey into the unknown, and the first act ends with him being sent on his way, cocooned.

The second half is where things start to take off, and Mariposa’s rebirth and vulnerability are skilfully done. It’s not often that a male dancer ends up a pointe but here it works brilliantly and as Mariposa becomes her new self the sailor returns with his wife. Inevitably, Mariposa ends up rejected, but, unlike in the original, she survives and flies off as a thing of a frail beauty.

The cast numbers 5, but because of some slick costume changes you’d be forgiven for thinking it was double that. Mariposa, played by Harry Alexander, is on stage almost the whole time and steals the show. Gertrudis, played by Jaivant Patel, is also a strong performer who plays the brothel keeper with panache.

The work was apparently 6 years in the making, which seems a bit of a long time, and some of the handout’s references, such as the AIDS crisis that swept Cuba – which is apparently the setting for the 3rd act – didn’t register at all.

The handout also refers to the final Mariposa as “she” and states that the work has no trans characters only transformations, ideations and formulations, but if changing from male to female isn’t a transition, what is?

All in all, Mariposa is a good start but, like the original opera which had several versions before the one that’s universally accepted now (and which was itself based on a play that Puccini attended), it could do with a bit more work to make it great.

Paul Schofield for Canal St Media

Published: 17-Jan-2022 (6497)