Forty puppets of the Mersin State Opera and Ballet (MDOB) have been created to perform Giacomo Puccini's three-act opera "Madama Butterfly," which will premiere on Thursday in the city of Mersin in southern Turkey.
The work, which was previously performed by live artists, will be presented this time as a "puppet opera," a first in Turkey. The team working on the project has mostly completed the production of the puppets.
"Madam Butterfly" appeared on the stage in 1904 and became one of Puccini's most important operas. The work details the life of a young geisha, Madam Butterfly, who is ready to dedicate herself to her husband. Cio-Cio-San, 15, marries American officer Pinterkon, who came to Japan, and converts to Christianity. Her conversion leaves her alone as she is rejected by her family, who see her conversion as an insult to their culture. Eventually, Pinkerton also leaves the house shortly after their marriage. Butterfly, who is pregnant, patiently waits for Pinkerton for years. Meanwhile, Pinkerton gets married in America, then comes to Japan to pick up his 3-year-old son from Butterfly. Seeing that Pinkerton has betrayed her, Butterfly commits suicide with a dagger, an heirloom of her family. With its astonishing story loaded with East Asian motifs, the opera has become among the 20 most-performed operas in North America.
Melih Öztürk, who will be directing the piece, said "Madam Butterfly" has been staged many times in different cities before. Noting that there are examples of the "puppet opera" genre in Europe, Öztürk said: "Puppet operas are watched with interest in Europe. We did not make marionettes in this project. Our puppets are close to life-size. For the first time, all the characters of the opera and the choir will be played by 40 puppets."
To create a unique visual effect and offer a different approach than European productions, the 40 puppets for the production have been designed to be mounted on the chests of the stage crew.
"It is a very difficult stage for us. Analyzing the technique of puppets has been a completely different experience. Performing it will be something unique. Puppet opera has never been seen in Turkey until today," he added.
Hatice Kaptı, the puppet and costume designer of the piece, also stated that they prepared for this rare project with a lot of effort.
Explaining that their preparations have been going on for nearly two months, she said: "It starts with the sculpture stage. First, I work on all the faces in clay. Then I take the polyester mold. I cast them and make each face and puppet one by one. I design their costumes and assemble them in our workshops. Art lovers will be shown a work they haven't seen in either Mersin or Turkey yet," she added.
Puppet technical analysis officer Alper Güneri also emphasized the arduous work of puppet making.
"We created a workshop in the foyer area on our stage. I had the support of other technical friends there. It was coordinated work. We talked many times about the movements of the puppets. I needed to produce a technical and mechanical formula for this. I did it. I tried a different technique. It didn't work out. In the third, in the fourth ... I somehow managed to decipher the chin, the head-turning movement. As a result, such a performance came out. I'm very happy with it."