Madama Butterfly

A Japanese story of unfulfilled desire, betrayal and honour

Madama Butterfly has perhaps the simplest plot of all Puccini’s operas: a “Yankee”, Lieutenant F. B. Pinkerton, is enchanted by the picturesque Japanese milieu and the 15-year-old Cio-Cio San, nicknamed “Butterfly”, whom he marries. Yet soon, after the honeymoon is over, he abandons his young wife and leaves for the USA to wed an American woman. Three years later, Pinkerton returns to Nagasaki so as to take away the child Cio-Cio San has given birth to in the meantime.

In Madama Butterfly, Puccini eschewed intricate action and boisterous dramatic events, opting instead for an intimate story and highlighting the psychology of the characters, fleshing out by his music the tiniest details, oscillations and extreme emotional surges. The contrast between the Japanese and “Western” mentality is also aptly rendered by means of many a time surprisingly modified quotations of the US national anthem, as well as a forcible depiction of the local colour of Japan. This facet is captured in Jiří Heřman’s production, which authentically represents the Japanese culture and its traditional customs. The stage director tells the well-known story in a non-traditional way – through the eyes of Cio-Cio San’s grown-up son, who traces his past in Nagasaki.

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