David Henry Hwang

M.BUTTERFLY /An Asian Drama in 2 Acts/

Translated from English by Evita Mamaja

Premiere: 8 November, 2013

 

 

In his prison cell, the French diplomat Rene Galimard remembers the happiest time of his life when he lived with the Peking opera diva Song Liling. How could he have possibly known that the ideal woman of his dreams was in fact, a Chinese government spy and a man masquerading as a woman? In a series of flashbacks, the diplomat relives the story over the course of 20 years. The questions is – was this passion just his own fantasy or reality, but it is the most important event of his life. Only in real life can love be so unreal . . . . .

 

This is the eternal conflict between man and woman, between the east and the west, racial stereotypes and fantasy. It’s a story about a secret love and mixed up sexual identities that is based on true events that shocked the world in 1986.

M. Butterfly received the Tony Award for the best play of the year in 1988. In 1993, the director David Kronenburg made it into a film starring Jeremy Irons in the title role.

 

 

Performers: Juris Žagars (Rene Galimard), Dainis Grūbe (Song Liling), Ģirts Ķesteris (Mark), Kristīne Nevarauska (Reny), Ilze Ķuzule-Skrastiņa (girl from a magazine), Lilita Ozoliņa or Indra Briķe (Comrade Chin), Vita Vārpiņa (Helga), Juris Bartkevičs (Monsieur Toulon), Pēteris Gaudiņš (Judge)

The performance features Sergejs Jēgers as Song Liling’s alter ego

 

Director – Laura Groza-Ķibere

Set Designer – Mārtiņš Vilkārsis

Costume Designer – Ilze Vītoliņa

Choreographer – Inga Krasovska

Composer and Arranger – Kārlis Auzāns

Lighting Designer – Jevgeny Vinogradov (Russia)

 

 

2013/2014 Spēlmaņu nakts Award:

Actor of the Year – Dainis Grūbe

 

Nominations for the Spēlmaņu nakts Award 2013/2014 :

Actor of the Year – Juris Žagars

Set Designer of the Year – Mārtiņš Vilkārsis

Costume Designer of the Year – Ilze Vītoliņa

Choreographer of the Year – Inga Krasovska

 

The production was one of the contenders for the 2013 LTV1 100g Kulturas programme’s Kilograms kultūrai Award.