A cheeky romp through the misadventures of Emma Bovary, putting a playful twist on the classic novel
Gustave Flaubert’s 1857 novel Madame Bovary is an intimate portrait of a life very slowly unraveling, spanning decades of Emma Bovary’s frustrated dreams and ill-advised choices. The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary – a playful new adaptation by John Nicholson – jumps right into the climax of the story, introducing us to Emma near the end of the novel’s story as she is already deeply in debt and at her wits’ end. The story is framed by the arrival of two ratcatchers (invented for this retelling) who allow Emma to tell her own story much more than she can in the original text. This famously bleak nineteenth-century novel may seem like an odd choice for the holiday season, but this high-energy show has notes of pantomime and moments of actual magic which bring a zesty energy to the tale.
The small French town of Yonville is brought to life by four multi-talented performers, who show off a remarkable range as they portray dozens of different characters. Georgia Nicholson shines as Emma Bovary; she feels perfectly at home in the sultry comedy of Emma’s romantic misadventures, yet brings an earnest grace to Emma’s more tragic moments that keeps the audience rooting for her from start to finish. Ben Kernow and Darren Seed play the two ratcatchers, as well as Emma’s various beaus; Darren Seed is endearingly hapless as the clueless Charles Bovary, whom Emma has married in a misguided bid for romance, and Ben Kernow gives a chameleon-like performance as he portrays each of Emma’s multiple lovers. Stephen Cavanagh plays an impressive fifteen characters, deftly swapping between voices, accents, and gaits to fill in the rest of the town’s population, adding in a few well-timed knowing winks at the occasional chaos this causes.
The set design is simple enough to transform into the show’s many locations, and well-chosen props help round out the world of this rural French village, with design by Marion Harrison and lighting and production headed by Simon Hutchings. In the few moments where the storytelling requires something beyond what’s onstage, clever mixtures of mime and sound design bring a few imaginary set pieces to life. Dan Bottomley’s sound design also offers the characters a chance to playfully interact with the world they’re creating, as they occasionally direct or attempt to alter the sound cues. Kirstie Davis’s direction and Grace Murdoch’s movement direction have created a fast-paced, dynamic jewel of a show which keeps each performer on their toes, whirling the audience along in a dizzying dance. Both fans of the novel and newcomers to the story will find something to love in this irreverent yet tender exploration of what it means to yearn for something more than what your world and position can offer.
The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary, by Ha Hum Ah Theatre Company in partnership with the Minack Theatre, is running until January 11th 2025 at the Southwark Playhouse (Borough).