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Madame Butterfly is Puccini’s beautifully tragic classic opera about a young woman’s ill-fated relationship with an American Naval officer. There have been plenty of re-imaginings of this bittersweet story over the last century, including a modernised musical in the form of global sensation Miss Saigon. Paul Higgins’ adaptation of Madam Butterfly at the King’s Head theatre is yet another unique take on the tale, bringing it into the 21st Century and setting it in a Japanese Maid Café. This adaptation has been stripped back and abridged, making it approximately an hour shorter than the original and with only six characters. It has been translated from Italian into English by Olivier Award winner Amanda Holden.

What this production has going for it is some incredibly strong vocal performances, particularly by Stephanie Edwards who, in this instance, was in the role of Butterfly. Emotive and powerful, Edwards hits every note with ease and is enjoyable to listen to. Praise also for Hollie-Marie Bingham as Suzuki, bringing a performance which is both vocally impressive and a joy to watch. Most notable is David Jones who makes a sweet and sympathetic Sharpless with a wonderfully multi-dimensional and nuanced take on the character and an outstanding singing ability to accompany it.

The idea of setting Madam Butterfly in a modern day Japanese Maid Café is great on paper – it’s an interesting parallel and it could certainly be said that the sexualisation of young girls in these sorts of establishments is not dissimilar to the geishas of the past, but for all its good intentions this production just doesn’t quite manage to pull it off. For anyone with even a passing interest in manga, anime, and Japanese culture a few neon lights and some anime style illustrations on posters do not a Maid Café make. The production bashes the audience around the head with set and props associated with modern day Japan (Butterfly comes in clutching a Hello Kitty doll at one point), which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in itself, but when you take into account the fact that every single member of the cast is white/Caucasian then problems start to occur. The issue is not that white actors are playing Asian roles, it’s that white actors are playing Asian roles by caricaturising their Japanese characters – the excessive bowing, eyelash fluttering, and bashful tittering is at best uncomfortable to watch, and at worst racially insensitive.

The setting creates more problems in the second act when Butterfly and Suzuki are penniless and starving. They sing of their suffering moments after Butterfly enters their decently furnished modern apartment listening to an iPod, and she later comes in with a bucket of Legos. The stylistic choices undermine the tragedy at every turn, and it causes the whole production to feel cheap and without depth.

All in all Madam Butterfly has a strong cast, is a delight to listen to, and has an interesting concept but is not without flaws. Ultimately it trips up at some key hurdles and in doing so takes much of the power and beauty of Puccini’s beloved masterpiece down with it.