M. Butterfly Lesson Plan

How is the play structured? How does this structure influence the audience’s experience of the story?

The play is structured as a flashback told by Gallimard in his prison cell in 1988. Thus, Gallimard speaks directly to the audience, breaking the fourth wall. All other events in the play are from Gallimard’s memory, hence the rapid jumping around between different times and places. This method of storytelling puts the audience in Gallimard’s position and encourages them to identify with a character who might otherwise be alienating. What is interesting is that later in the play Song begins to speak to the audience and tell the story more in their own way as the play...