Review: THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY, Southwark Playhouse Borough
Photo credit: Tanya Pabaru
Emma is planning to end her life. As she rushes into a pharmacy to get a bottle of arsenic, she doesn’t expect to meet a kind rat catcher, who offers her shelter and asks to hear her story in full. She is all too eager to tell her tale. From convents to the provincial French countryside and Paris, love, lust and scandal, she slowly strips back the layers of her life that led her here…
The show has been around for quite a while. It was first performed in Liverpool in 2016 as part of a UK tour, which lasted from January to May. After a hiatus, it came back in 2022 and was performed at Jermyn Street Theatre. This year, it returns, beginning performances at the Minack in April and has been on tour at various different venues since then.
When writer John Nicholson was asked why he decided to adapt the classic book into a play, he stated: “adage/truth of comedy being so close to tragedy. I thought Madame Bovary would be very rich territory to explore that.”
The set design is not what we typically expect from a show set during the Belle Epoque (meaning beautiful) era of France. Cloth suspended from the ceiling falls behind the imitation of a house facade. Some of the dirty white cabinets are printed with a black rat pattern, giving us the impression that anything particularly beautiful might be hiding something unpredictable and messy.
This show definitely surprises us with its approach to adapting, as the name suggests, this tragedy. With tragedy’s typically having a sinister, brutal and solemn tone, we anticipated that, even with the more light hearted advertising, any light notes would be stark but thin on the ground. This is not what happens at all. In this case, it would be fair to assume that it would be a tragi-comedy. But it’s not that either. So what is it? Put simply, it’s a dark comedy, more akin tone wise to Beetlejuice, just without the music (with the exception of a funky accordion that occasionally says hello).
The comedy is punchy, memorable and creatively genius. Ben Kernow’s characterisation of Rodolphe is a sight to behold; he really uses his body to his advantage to present this character as a seedy but also very sexy magician, who knows how to dress up his tricks and disappears on a whim. We laugh at the way he comically over emphasises everything whilst simultaneously rooting for his character’s demise with the way he plays with Emma. A particular highlight worth mentioning is director Kirstie Davis’ decision to present what would otherwise be a hot and heavy sex scene as a magic show.
This is a show that understands the audiences intellect and ability to understand implication.
The high comedy of this show also allows the tragedy to shine through in an unexpected way. The hecticness of the comedy allows the sharp moments of quiet contemplation to really scream and make a statement. That the world can move so fast and so many twists happen in life that it can be hard to keep up and think ahead. It also means that sometimes we, as audience members, become members of the harsh society, which is quick to dismiss and silence women. We don’t think about the sinister undertones because we are too busy laughing at Charles Bovary’s obliviousness or looking in awe at the beauty of the wares that Lheureaux is selling.
We love that this adaptation doesn’t condemn or support any character. It presents every single one as subservient to and master of their own desires. It doesn’t punish Emma Bovary for having and exploring her sexual desires, nor does it take away her agency. It highlights that yes, she is a victim of the society she lives in, but she also makes some poor choices that hasten her downfall. Her husband isn’t stupid, he’s just too busy focusing on his career to notice things. Lherureaux is a businessman who is just incredibly good at what he does and Rodolphe is someone who can only ever live in the present. All of this is the result of incredibly well constructed writing and a willingness to allow the show and the script to grow and evolve over a number of years, in combination with choosing a cast with the skills and talent to pull the nuances and complexities off.
We came out of this show feeling stunned by what we’d just witnessed. It’s exciting and tragic, it’s hilarious and serious, it’s highly entertaining and we feel more energised and alive having seen it. It sticks with us as we leave the theatre and that memorable quality is what sets it apart as a really special piece.
Bizarre and lively, tragically hilarious in the best way.
***** FIve stars
Reviewed by: Megan O’Neill
