So That You May Go Beyond the Sea (WIP)
“The show is over,” the show begins. Joey and Gabs, our two performers (though Joey self-proclaims he is NOT an actor), begin in the audience. They begin with Madama Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini’s 1904 opera. You are on your way back from the Royal Opera House’s performance of that very same opera, they tell us. You are on the Piccadilly line from Covent Garden, they say. And you get off at your spot just as another passenger from across the way calls you a “f**king ch**k.”
What do you do?
The implication is perhaps the signature of the young but mighty Undone Theatre. Their collaboration with Carmen Collective earlier this year, Lessons on Revolution, was a sold-out success at Soho Theatre, lauded for its provocations sparking tangible, political change. Likewise, in So That You May Go Beyond the Sea, passive spectatorship is queried and challenged through the lens of interracial relationships. Gabriele (Gabriele Uboldi) and Joey (Joey Jepps) are white Italian and Japanese-British respectively. They’ve been living together for three years, inseperable romantic partners ever since. But it was a production of Madama Butterfly that revealed the hidden cracks within their relationship, stirring an investigation into the opera, Joey’s parent’s relationship, and his own relationship with Gabs.
It’s a “show within a show within a show,” and this WIP is sharply constructed, going into detail about its many layers and framing devices. Show #1: Madama Butterfly. Show #2: the show Joey and Gabs were going to make in response to Madama Butterfly. Show #3: the show Joey and Gabs ended up making in response to Show #2, or, “the show you’re watching now.” A small square projection screen assists in telling the story, which is as much a documentary narrative as it is a tale about the making of the show: a video from Joey’s parent’s wedding, creative captions from Joey’s recorded interviews with his mother, and other archival images from Joey’s life keep us rapt and engaged. Where is Joey taking us?
In addition to the projections, a small black model box, complete with interchangeable “sets” and small, to scale “characters” help illuminate the several strands of storytelling. In the full production, we are told, the action within the model box will be filmed and livestreamed so that the audience might have a closer look. Overall, the theatrical vocabulary struck me as both effective and inventive— a spectacular way to convey an intricately woven narrative. Plus, it pushed the limits of documentary theatre. No longer will I accept “people talking” on stage, presenting re-enactments in perfect, chronological order! I much prefer this textured personal narrative collage.
Unlike its form, however, the content of the show perhaps refutes its own nuance a bit too much. As the main characters (all couples) from each “show” reveal themselves- Cio-Cio-San and Pinkerton, Joey’s mum and dad, and Joey and Gabs- patterns begin to emerge for Joey… or do they? Is Joey seeking out similarities that aren’t, in fact, there? Or is he actually uncovering patterns that speak to one another across time? The modern commentary of Madama Butterfly is critical of the 1904 production: what gives a white Italian man the right to tell this story? What does it say that Cio-Cio-San’s only choice is to perform Seppuku at the end of it all? And, most important to Joey, why the fetishization around Asian women?
From here, Joey spirals thinking back on his own family history. “Did my dad have ‘Yellow Fever’?” This question torments him, inevitably forcing him to question his own relationship. Does Gabs fetishize Joey? This question also begins to torment the audience, and this is the point at which the production may have lost me. I can appreciate the questioning as to whether there’s any “Yellow Fever” among the two more modern couples, but it gets to a point where Joey insists it must be present.
Beyond the questions posed by the production, this then begs the question (and begins some fruitful conversation for the train ride home): is fetishization inherently bad? It’s a thorny question, especially when race is an integral part of it. Perhaps if we break it down further… Is it wrong to admire difference? And where is the line between appreciation and exploitation?
I saw So That You May Go Beyond the Sea at a work-in-progress showing at Applecart Arts on 13 April 2024. The show is slated for a full production at Camden People’s Theatre from 2-4 May 2024. More information and tickets here.
