In the Choreographer's Words: Mariposa

Have you ever loved anyone so much you are ready to do anything for that person? You may quit smoking, learnt to love yappy Chihuahuas, moved countries, changed religions, lost friends, have your mother and aunts stop talking to you- all to later have your heart terribly, irremediably broken?

That is pretty much the premise (perhaps minus the cigarettes and the Chihuhuas) of Puccini’s seminal opera, Madame Butterfly, and it was that idea, the sacrifices we are ready to make for love and acceptance, that inspired me to reimagine this canonical work and create Mariposa.

Mariposa (which means “butterfly” in Spanish) is set in Cuba, shortly after Fidel Castri’s revolution, a time of poverty, need and political repression. In the docks of Havana, a rent boy (Mariposa) and a foreign sailor (Preston) fall deeply in love, and Mariposa is asked to sacrifice his gender as an escape route towards love and a better life. No spoilers here, but you can expect a lot of drama throughout the three acts that conform the production. And, like with any good soap, there is of course the other woman, who comes in to form a very melodramatic love triangle.

Michael Márquez as a santera in Mariposa. Design by Ryan Laight, photo by Emma Kauldhar

Harry Alexander as an orisha deity in Mariposa. Design by Ryan Laight, photo by Joe armitage

I worked with a fantastic Spanish composer, Luis Miguel Cobo, to create an original score that took some inspiration from Puccini, but was more inspired by Caribbean sounds. A lot of what Luis has composed has a feel of docklands, of oily ships and greasy seamen, long tropical summer days, the recycled materials of shacks, the sounds of midnight rituals, spiritual possession and animal sacrifice. There are of course boleros, mambos and salsa bands, sometimes played by factory machinery, or with beautiful strings and piano. And some of the opera does appear, inadvertently, telling of an older world of romance, of fantasy and hope.

Leonora Stapleton as Ochún in Mariposa, design by Ryan Laight. Photo: Joe Armitage

Designer Ryan Laight dresses the dancers and stage. For Mariposa, we took our inspiration from research into Cuban drag: how, due to shortages of pretty much everything on the island due to the embargo, drag queens would make outfits out of sheets, heels out of cans, wigs out of ropes. So the set and costumes have this sense of recycled materials, as does Barnaby Booth’s lighting design.