If a full-length opera doesn’t feel like the right fit, Access performances make coming to a favourite title as easy and stress-free as possible.
Whether you are living with dementia or Long COVID, recovering from an operation, find it hard to get out in the evening, or would simply benefit from the relaxed atmosphere, you can enjoy everything opera has to offer.
What to expect:
- Audio description available
- Shortened running times
- A presenter to introduce the story and characters
- Additional front of house staff on hand to welcome you
- Wheelchair spaces and staff to help if you want to transfer
- Brighter lighting levels in the auditorium
- Lower capacity to allow everyone space
- Quiet areas available to take a break if needed
About Madama Butterfly
When the young Cio-Cio-San marries the handsome US Navy Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, she gives up everything – after all, he has promised her a new life, and the warnings of her nearest and dearest seem trivial in the face of true love. Years later, she waits eagerly for his return and to introduce him to his son, but his arrival leads only to tragedy.
Puccini’s Madama Butterfly has moved audiences to tears for over a century, asking them to accept that Cio-Cio-San’s suffering is beautiful; that Pinkerton’s betrayal is inevitable; that a woman’s destruction is the price of a meaningful story. But this ‘Butterfly for the ages’ (The Arts Desk) refuses this bargain. The opera is reimagined as a journey through memory and identity by director Daisy Evans and designer Kat Heath (both Albert Herring 2024), with ‘stunning’ lighting by Jake Wiltshire and costumes by Catherine Fay. In their hands, Madama Butterfly becomes urgent and human – a meditation on what we inherit, what we conceal, and what it costs when the truth is finally brought to light.
Coming to Scotland after a triumphant run in Dublin, this production’s first-rate cast includes Sunyoung Seo (Il trittico 2023) as Cio-Cio-San, Andrés Presno as Pinkerton, Lea Shaw (L’heure espagnole 2025) as Suzuki, and Phillip Rhodes (La traviata 2024) as Sharpless.
Performance details
- Running time
2 hours (including a 20-minute interval)
- Additional information
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Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Accessibility information
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Audio described performance
We believe theatre is for everyone, and we want your visit to be as easy and enjoyable as possible.
If you’d like advice when booking or planning your trip, please contact our box office team for further assistance.
You can find detailed access information for the Festival Theatre below.
More access information