Theatre Development Fund – TDF: Playwright David Henry Hwang believes it's the perfect moment for M. Butterfly to return to Broadway. The drama about a French diplomat who claims not to know his longtime Chinese lover was a spy or male earned acclaim and multiple Tonys in 1988, making Hwang the first Asian-American dramatist to win the award. For years, Hwang was reluctant to agree to a revival because the highly theatrical staging by the late director John Dexter left an indelible impression. As Hwang explains, "If I was going to do it again, I wanted to create the possibility that the new production would not obscure the memory of the original, but at least allow for the play to maybe feel fresh again."
3 comments:
It's always interesting to see art through a different time lens and see how relevant it can still be. I think this is one of the best and most important things about art; its ability to uphold meaning through time, the element that destroys almost everything. It is smart that David Henry Hwang decided to wait until just the right moment to approve a revival of "M. Butterfly" because such a powerful play needs to have the right people working on it to create a performance that both honors the piece and places it in the modern world. I completely agree with David's assessment of the stereotypes and gender of the East and West. There is a common stereotype of Asian women wherein we are perceived as submissive and subservient which I think translates to the Western view of Asia as a whole. I think it is important that this production seeks to blur the binary gender line as the world has come to accept the spectrum of gender. People like David Henry Hwang are the people who are pioneering diversity in the industry. Writers who write in Asian characters into their script and demand its fulfillment is the fundamental key to change.
It is quite exciting to see this show has an excited community waiting for it to open. I had the pleasure to work on this production over the summer and it is always exciting to see the front end of a production that you had only ever seen the back end of. This play clearly has a lot of relevance today and I am curious to see what the reviews have to say. The set, which is fairly simple as designed and is seen in some of the images in the article, seems to fit the style of show that is described in the article. The writer talks about the east-west dynamic and there seems to be that feeling in the set with walls that have an industrial look on one side, and traditional paintings on the other. There is a lot of talk about this show but actually seeing an article that describes why it is important now is very exciting.
One of the things I am most fascinated by is the how plays change meaning over time. Even though M. Butterfly retains some of its original meaning because of the similar circumstances, fundamentally the world has changed a great deal since it was written. Even though, I have never seen M. Butterfly I would love to go see the revival. Even though the original production is so iconic, I am fascinated by what Julie Taymor would bring to the production. Overall I have immense respect for her as a designer, and I love the Lion King design, but she is also responsible for Spiderman turn off the dark. Whether it turns out good or bad, Julie Taymor’s work usually brings an unconventional point of view to a production. I hope she can elevate the production and give it the weight and beauty the show deserves.
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