AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'CHO CHO SAN was powerfully moving. The tragedy of a delicate, naive girl caught between two cultures, hopelessly trapped, hopefully yearning and with all hope destroyed, was told through resonant music and lyrics. Singer/actors and life-sized puppets manipulated by visible puppeteers played dual roles. Cho Cho San herself was represented by an actor, and by her alter ego puppet, Butterfly; Goro, the Japanese marriage broker, by an actor and a grotesque puppet of himself; Pinkerton, Kate and Sharpless, Westerners and the Chorus were actors, and the child of two cultures was a white-faced, innocently featureless baby puppet, smothered to death at the hands of its despairing mother in this new version of the story.'
Source: Handspan Theatre (http://handspantheatre.com.au/info/Cho+Cho+San).
Notes
-
A play based on Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini.
Production Details
-
First produced at the Universal Theatre, Melbourne, October 1984 and by the Playbox Theatre Co., Studio Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, 1987. The play toured Australia in 1987 and China in 1988.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Butterfly Not Pinned
1991
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 20 August vol. 113 no. 5783 1991; (p. 93)
— Review of Cho Cho San 1984 single work musical theatre -
Cho Cho San : 'A Triumph of Collaboration'
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , [Double Issue] no. 12-13 1988; (p. 85-101) -
Untitled
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: Daily News , 23 October 1988;
— Review of Cho Cho San 1984 single work musical theatre -
Untitled
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Times [Perth] , 23 October 1988;
— Review of Cho Cho San 1984 single work musical theatre -
Untitled
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 21 October 1988;
— Review of Cho Cho San 1984 single work musical theatre
-
Untitled
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Northern Territory News , 16 September 1988;
— Review of Cho Cho San 1984 single work musical theatre -
Untitled
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 21 October 1988;
— Review of Cho Cho San 1984 single work musical theatre -
Untitled
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Times [Perth] , 23 October 1988;
— Review of Cho Cho San 1984 single work musical theatre -
Untitled
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: Daily News , 23 October 1988;
— Review of Cho Cho San 1984 single work musical theatre -
Butterfly Not Pinned
1991
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 20 August vol. 113 no. 5783 1991; (p. 93)
— Review of Cho Cho San 1984 single work musical theatre -
Cho Cho San : 'A Triumph of Collaboration'
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , [Double Issue] no. 12-13 1988; (p. 85-101) -
Missing the Performance
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Society , October 1988; (p. 49-51)