Under flickering neon lights of a distant Caribbean port, a local rent boy and a foreign sailor fall ominously in love. Choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra’s Mariposa is a queer reimagining of Puccini’s seminal opera, Madame Butterfly.
Mariposa is an operatic dance drama engulfed in a tropical storm of repressed desires, in which a young man is asked to sacrifice his gender in exchange of love and a better life. Transporting Puccini’s Orientalist libretto to post-revolution Cuba, to a dockland world of faded showgirls, troubled sailors and santería spirits, this production is a passionate exploration of what we are ready to surrender in order to be loved and accepted.
With rousing original music by composer Luis Miguel Cobo, inspired by Puccini and Caribbean sounds.
Recommended for ages 12+, contains scenes and content of a sexual nature
Running time 1 hour 30 minutes (including 20 minute interval)
Financial Times
Unbound eroticism and dynamite dancingThe Guardian
There is nothing like Pons Guerra's work elsewhere on the British stageDance Europe
A great piece of storytelling: one I suspect most are unlikely to forgetDancing Times
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