Intimate 'M. Butterfly' succeeds on many levels
David Henry Hwang's "M. Butterfly" is many things.
A masterful deconstruction of Puccini's masterwork, "Madame Butterfly," Hwang's smart, multilayered play is also a clever re-imagining of a notorious 1986 espionage case involving a French diplomat and a Beijing Opera star.
It's also an engrossing examination of identity, race and power; man's capacity for self-delusion; the masculine-feminine dynamic; and the East-West divide. To that end, "M. Butterfly" offers some astute social and political observations.
But at its core, this is the story of ill-fated lovers -- one desperate to sustain his illusions and the other equally determined to strip them away and be loved for himself entirely. And it's on that level that Bohemian Theatre Ensemble's intimate, artfully staged revival succeeds.
Tiny Heartland Studio makes an apt setting for this most personal tale inspired by the true story of French diplomat Bernard Boursicot, who was convicted of passing classified documents to the Chinese over the course of his 20-year affair with Shi Pei-Pu, a male actor and spy who Boursicot believed was a woman.
The space poses a challenge for director P. Marston Sullivan and set designer John Zuiker. Still, they manage, by reducing its scale, to retain the inherent theatricality of this play. It unfolds as a series of flashbacks in which protagonist Rene Gallimard (the youngish Jeremy Young) relates the story of his affair with Song Lilong (Broadway veteran David Rhee) from his Paris prison, which Zuiker effectively transforms into a lovers' nest where the couple's blossoming romance is neatly reflected in the flowered panels that multiply until they cover the walls.
The story centers on bland, junior-level diplomat Rene (played by Young with deft combination of arrogance, self-awareness and self-deception), whose Western inclination to dominate and passion for Puccini's opera inform his attitudes toward women. A self-described "patron saint of the socially inept," he embraces the myth of the deferential Asian woman believing that dominating her -- his elusive "Butterfly" -- will fulfill him as a man.
He uncovers her in transvestite actor Song Lilong, (the superb Rhee who plays the coy Butterfly as convincingly as he plays the brash, self-loathing Song, revealing the neediness in both). Dressed in costume designer Michelle Julazadeh's silk kimonos and sexy evening gowns, Song exploits Rene's misconceptions to embody every one of his cherished stereotypes. Ultimately, this consummate actor's seduction of the "foreign devil" amounts to a masterful reversal of power that reflects not only men's inability to understand women but also the West's inability to comprehend the East.
When the deception is revealed, however, both men are left bereft. Rene wants illusion. Song wants reality. These men are many things. But they are not compatible. And therein lies the tragedy of Hwang's love story.
"M. Butterfly"
3 stars out of four
Location: Heartland Studio Theater, 7016 N. Glenwood Ave., Chicago
Times: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; through April 20
Running Time: About 2 hours, 20 minutes, with intermission
Tickets: $20
Parking: Free at the Trilogy lot at Estes and Glenwood
Box office: (773) 791-2393 or bohotheatre.com
Rating: For adults, contains nudity, strong sexual content, strong language