Pushing the envelope on classic folklore

THE famous Chinese folktale The Butterfly Lovers gets an East-meets-West musical treatment by Singapore theatre troupe Wild Rice and Melbourne-based opera company Victorian Opera. Working with conductor and composer Richard Mills, director Ivan Heng has conceived a more risque take on the classic story, playing with its homoerotic undertones to parse the nature of forbidden desire.

Set during the Eastern Jin dynasty era, the story centres on two scholars, Zhu Yingtai (played by soprano Cathy-Di Zhang) and Liang Shanbo (counter-tenor Austin Haynes) who become sworn brothers while pursuing their university studies. What Liang doesn’t realise at first is that Zhu is really a girl disguising herself as a boy for the opportunity to further her education. 

Although feelings begin to develop beyond the fraternal, the story ends tragically when Zhu is called home for an arranged marriage to a wealthy man, leaving Liang confused and heartbroken. Subsequently Liang’s health starts to deteriorate rapidly.