First performed in Italy in 1904, Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly tells of the relationship between a geisha and a US naval officer. While the female character is exoticised and her devotion culminates in self-denial, the romantic plot glorifies the potency of Western man. The young theatre maker Satoko Ichihara has chosen to turn the tables, thereby revealing these racist and sexist projections for what they are. For her first production outside Japan, she transposes the hegemonic narrative into a wild and disturbing fantasy world. Between Tokyo and Zurich, an international cast and 3D-animated avatars wrangle for sovereignty of interpretation in matters of identity politics, ideals of beauty, sexuality and power: with amusing images and combative debates, eccentric characters and pop-cultural disruptions. Satoko Ichihara’s theatre features surprising images and unashamedly forthright words of some substance. Shocking good.