Theatre-watch: Mariposa by Carlos Pons Guerra
A reimagining of Puccini's Madame Butterfly.
Mariposa is choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra’s take on Puccini’s opera, Madame Butterfly.
An operatic dance drama, the action is set in post-revolution Cuba, and a dockland world of faded showgirls, hopeful rent boys, troubled sailors and divine spirits.
What's Mariposa about?
Under the flickering neon lights of a distant Caribbean port, a local rent boy and a foreign sailor fall ominously in love and a young man is asked to sacrifice his gender in exchange for love and a better life.
Behind-the-scenes
For our podcast, How To Date Men, we caught up with Carlos for a behind-the-scenes look at the production.
In the conversation we talk sacrifice, queer identity, and Latino drama.
Tour Dates
Tuesday 8 October
The Dukes, Lancaster
Moor Lane, Lancaster LA1 1QE
Box office: 01524 598500 / https://dukeslancaster.org/
Tuesday 15 October
The Lighthouse, Poole
21 Kingland Rd, Poole BH15 1UG
Box office: 01202 280000 / https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/
Friday 22 & Saturday 23 November
MAST, Southampton
142, 144 Above Bar St, Southampton SO14 7DU
Box office: 023 8071 1811 / https://www.mayflower.org.uk/
Tuesday 26 November
Lakeside Arts, Nottingham
University Park, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham NG7 2RD
Box office: 0115 846 7777 / https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/externalrelations/lakeside-arts.aspx
Friday 14 February
Harrogate Theatre
6 Oxford St, Harrogate HG1 1QF
Box office: 01423 502116 / https://www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk/
Tuesday 25 & Wednesday 26 February
The Place, London
17 Duke's Rd, London WC1H 9PY
Box office: 020 7121 1100 / https://theplace.org.uk/whats-on
Friday 14 & Saturday 15 March
Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds
2 St Cecilia St, Leeds LS2 7PA
Box office: 0113 220 8008 / https://northernballet.com/venue/leeds-stanley-audrey-burton-theatre
Friday 21 March
Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton
Wulfruna St, Wolverhampton WV1 1SE
Box office: 01902 321321 / https://www.wlv.ac.uk/arena-theatre/
Who is Carlos Pons Guerra?
Originally from Spain, Carlos Pons Guerra is now based in the UK and leading the dance company DeNada Dance Theatre.
His work is also imbued with the machismo associated with Latin men. Pons Guerra has spoken about drawing inspiration from Tom of Finland and the cruising dynamics of gay men.
Recent works include Mariposa, Waiting for Pepe, Toro, Ruffle, Penguins, and Private Balls.
“I’m very interested in the male duet because I have a very strong interest in human relationships, particularly when it comes to emotional ones…” explains Pons Guerra. “When I create work, I always have to start from a personal place, so that the work is honest. Being a gay man, most of the relationships I portray are between men.”
“You grow up watching so many female and male duets, which you’re expected to relate to . Male and female relationships are not the norm, and that’s not what we have to abide to.”
“I really believe that desire, lust, the need to possess another body and to feel possessed by someone, are the driving forces for human behaviour. Even when we repress those feelings, and deny them, that repression is a driving force in itself.”
“Desire and lust really don’t work well with the Catholic Church, in which I grew up, so I’ve always been really interested in that conflict. You can take the boy out of Catholicism, but you can’t take Catholicism out of the boy.”
“Like a lot of us, I’ve lived through a lot of tempestuous relationships with men, which have all had moments of beauty, ecstasy and love, as well as hurt, rejection, and sometimes violence. In many ways, I use the male duet to resolve these issues for myself, to figure them out, and also maybe sometimes to exorcise them by putting them on stage. Most of the time this happens unconsciously, and when I see it on stage I’m taken aback because I see myself and what I’ve been through.”
Carlos Pons Guerra on Naked Men Talking
Carlos Pons Guerra was recently a guest on the Naked Men Talking podcast.
The conversation included a discussion about the power of representation, the language of non-verbal cues, the sexual energy of men dancing together, and getting naked in Gran Canaria.
Images from the work of Carlos Pons Guerra
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