Nicky Shaw

“Butterfly isn’t the first abandoned child bride in Japan. When the curtain goes up on Annilese Miskimmon’s new Puccini production for Glyndebourne’s touring wing, we’re not in Pinkerton’s flat-pack house, but Goro’s marriage bureau, where drunk American sailors pay up, grab a geisha and head off to the hotel next door.”

“It’s a jolting beginning and — if it takes some liberties with the libretto — the scene, brilliantly designed by Nicky Shaw and atmospherically lit by Mark Jonathan, establishes the tenor of Miskimmon’s production immediately: no queasy sentimentality, no room for cherry-blossom Japan.”

“Annilese Miskimmon’s production of Madama Butterfly for the autumn tour proves to be immensely rewarding.”

“The Belfast-born director’s work is increasingly admired for her perception and sheer stagecraft, and this show is no exception. She updates the action to the 1950s, also taking the controversial decision to set the first act in Goro’s Marriage Bureau in downtown Nagasaki, a location which in Nicky Shaw’s designs suggests absolute efficiency and an air of sleaziness simultaneously”

“Elsewhere, one can have few reservations about a production that explores text and music both seriously and sensitively. Puccini and his skilful librettists may do much of the work for you, but Miskimmon and an excellent cast ensure that the emotional impact of the piece is devastating.”

“On August 9, 1945, an atomic bomb dropped by America on Nagasaki killed 35,000 people and left the Japanese city devastated. The flavour of the era is conveyed by designer Nicky Shaw’s setting the first scene, not in a traditional paper-screened house with cherry blossom, but in marriage-broker Goro’s sleazy downtown office where a conveyor belt of instant hook-ups between Japanese girls and American servicemen provides a profitable income. Butterfly arrives with family in tow, oblivious that the marriage ceremony is a sham. No wonder American Consul Sharpless warns Lieutenant BF Pinkerton against abusing the trust of a 15-year-old girl.”

“The humming song as Butterfly and her maid Suzuki await news of Pinkerton’s return is exquisitely realised in shadow silhouettes against an ethereal blue background.”