Americans have long been enthralled by political corruption. (Un)fortunately for us, there’s no shortage of it. And somewhat eerily, the trend seems to be the weirder, the better – Does Carlos Danger ring any bells?
For those captivated by the crooked – and downright bizarre – no tale is more engrossing than David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly. A show that enjoyed close to a three-year run on Broadway in the late 80s, it spins a version of the real-life affair between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot (the basis for the character Rene Gallimard and played at the Aurora Fox Theater by Kevin Hart) and his chameleonic lover, Chinese opera star Shi Pei Pu (given the alias Song Liling played by Charlee Chiv). The vocalist supposedly lead Boursicot on for some 20 years, wooing the attaché – under the guise of a woman – into providing him with sensitive diplomatic information that he then fed back to the Chinese government. Yes, Pu was apparently such a good spy he convinced Boursicot that he was a woman throughout a 20-plus-year sexual relationship. Huh.
Confused? It’s a baffling, gender-bending story that didn’t make sense when it broke in France in 1986, and it is devastatingly difficult to make work as an off-Broadway stage production. Though certainly burly and occasionally witty, Wang’s script can seem mind-numbingly thick. Weaving in and out of flashbacks, asides, the Puccini opera – Madama Butterfly – on which the story also centers, and layered with social commentary on western imperialism, the story is the theatrical equivalent of Times Square: so busy that if you blink you’ve probably missed something integral.
That said, Theatre Espirit Asia’s guest production of M. Butterfly in The Aurora Fox’s black box venue is a ferociously ambitious undertaking for a fledging outfit only in their second season of existence. The show certainly pinpoints the company’s message of forcing viewers to reflect on notions of sordid imperialism, but even despite some strong performances, the production seems to be a bit more than the troupe can comfortably chew. To be fair, it’s pretty damn hard to nail the middle ground between The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Man With The Golden Gun that the show sadistically requires.
The cast displays flashes of brilliance throughout the roughly two-and-a-half-hour production, but in the end many of the performances and zingy lines – like Gallimard’s coining of his “extra-extra-marital affair” – get buried in the sinuous, atmospheric drama. Occasional nuggets of sincerity, like the terrifically honest, “I’m happy, which often looks like crazy,” are so fleeting, they come across a bit too fortune-cookie-wisdomish, and are quickly lost within the folds of Liling’s silk robe.
However murky the story, both Hart and Chiv fight and claw their way to strong performances, though it certainly seems to take some coaxing. The chemistry between the two protagonists is painfully nonexistent throughout the first act, something that really doesn’t help sell Chiv as a supposedly scheming Chinese temptress. What should come off as flirtingly hesitant, instead feels like a Great Wall of dry ice. Things do begin to thaw in the second act, however, the final couple of scenes encroaching on genuine. Hart is the brighter side of the duo, managing to maintain a not-so-terrible French accent and fulfilling a nice crescendo in his final act of self-retribution.
The ensemble is pleasantly strong, but they too often get buried under an at times tangled story. Stuart Sanks is a noticeable standout though, expertly stepping in as the much needed comic relief in such a cloudy, translucent tale. His playboy quips often help to snap attention back following some particularly helium-filled dialogues.
Taking a step back from the performances, the show delivers a pretty poignant message regarding the traditional Western stance toward Eastern cultures, even given the fact that it’s so fogged over. A reminder of just how rotten that centuries-old notion of total Western entitlement and the constant thought of, gimme, gimme, gimme is, can never really be a bad message to be forced to digest – especially given the current hot button that is U.S. intervention abroad.
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M. Butterfly
Through Sept. 28 A guest production at the Aurora Fox Theater by Theatre Esprit Asia
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sunday matinees at 2:30pm in the Fox Studio Theatre, 9900 E. Colfax Ave.
Theatre Esprit Asia is a non-profit theatre organization devoted to exploring and promoting stories that reflect the Asian American experience
Call 303-739-1970 or visit aurorafoxartscenter.org —Tickets are $22-$30.