In this production of Madama Butterfly, director Stephen Langridge sets the story in Japan during the Second World War. American soldiers occupy the country. It is a time of destitute poverty and mass prostitution. In this cultural melting pot, Butterfly and Pinkerton meet – she with a dream of American freedom, he with a yearning for the exotic East. But is it love that joins them or are they each simply fascinated by otherness? Their relationship is tested through the confrontation with their own and others' prejudices.