Arts Centre Melbourne to Present Madame Butterfly Adaptation CHO CHO, 2-6 October

By: Jul. 29, 2013
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Based on the tragic tale of Giacomo Puccini's operatic masterpiece Madame Butterfly, Cho Cho is a bilingual drama set in Shanghai about the heroine's life that combines music and theatre as well as poetry and puppetry. This reimagined performance will spread its wings at Arts Centre Melbourne from 2 to 6 October 2013.

Presented by The National Theatre of China, Arts Centre Melbourne and Playking Productions, Cho Cho's (then Cho Cho San) first incarnation was as a puppet play by playwright Daniel Keene and Handspan in 1984 before it was picked up by Playbox in 1986 and subsequently presented in Australia and China in 1988 by Playking Productions.

This latest version, which premiered in Beijing in January 2013, was directed by Peter Wilson (Puppetry Director for King Kong, The Dragon Child) and is a reimagined production which features a reworked script, completely new score and new design. Polish / Australian actor/director Lech Mackiewicz is the rehearsal director for the Australian production.

The original story was inspired by the then-common Japanese custom of allowing foreign visitors to take 'temporary' wives; even as American sailor Pinkerton prepares to marry Cho Cho (the butterfly), he is toasting his future 'real' American wife. Poor Cho Cho is left unawares and after the wedding night Pinkerton returns back to his ship with false promises to return. Three years later, the now single mother Cho Cho is still scanning the empty horizon.

Relocated to 1930s Shanghai with a young Chinese girl waiting for her American navy lover, this reimaging of Cho Cho, performed in both English and Mandarin, features a half Chinese and half Australian cast including opera singer Wang Zheng, Scott Irwin (Hairspray), David Whitney (Bell Shakespeare 's Henry 4) and The National Theatre of China's Hou Yansong and Du He.

The creative team behind the musical theatre puppetry performance includes Wilson and Mackiewicz, award-winning Australian playwright Daniel Keene, Green Room and Helpmann Award-winning designer Richard Jeziorny (The Threepenny Opera, Sunset Boulevard). Music has been composed by Cheng Jin, who is well-known in China for his song writing for Chinese pop singers as well as composing for film, television and theatre. He is currently the composer-in-residence with The National Theatre of China.

Featuring music reminiscent of 1930's Shanghai nightclubs, London's West End and traditional Chinese music, the performance also features a four-piece cabaret band chosen by Australian theatre legend Max Lambert.



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