REVIEW: THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY! by John Nicholson at Jermyn Street Theatre until 17 Dec 2022

‘brings wit and mischief to one of French literature’s most hallowed classics’ ★★★★

If you need a laugh and, laughter is in short supply at the moment, The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary! is an opportunity to be entertained and let off some steam. In this spirited, fun-filled production, writer, John Nicholson brings wit and mischief to one of French literature’s most hallowed classics. Originally published as a serialised story in the Revue de Paris in 1856, it immediately gained notoriety, was subject to an obscenity trial and went on to be regarded as one of French literature’s most scandalous novels.

This reputation stems from the misbehavior of Flaubert’s lead character who gives her name to the title. Madame Bovary, constrained, conflicted and adulterous, would influence many more memorable female characters in literature from Anna Karenin to Hedda Gabler and Molly Bloom. Emma Bovary, a bored, bourgeois housewife married to the local doctor goes in search of extra-marital pleasure, but it doesn’t end well (and that’s no spoiler because it’s in the title of this play). In this version, two wily rat-catchers appear in Yonville-l’Abbaye and inconveniently buy up the village’s supply of arsenic.

“Tedium should be stamped into every marriage certificate” Madame Bovary is reminded as she spends long, empty days going for pointless walks or ordering new dresses. Stultified and unfulfilled, she is played to perfection by Jennifer Kirby, known for her TV role in Call the Midwife. Here she conveys a full range of emotion from pathos to slapstick with screams, silences and inscrutable smiles. Revealed not simply as vain, frivolous, needy or libidinous, here is a complex individual who chooses to live before she dies.  Her placid, passive husband, Doctor Charles Bovary (Sam Alexander) is more excited by abscesses and strange diseases than his gorgeous wife. Alistair Cope and Dennis Herdman inhabit the opportunistic rat-catchers and an entire village between them, donning cloaks, headscarves, climbing in and out of windows or addressing the audience directly.

There’s something exhilarating about mining comedy from a sacred classic and a doomed tragedy at that. The full range of smile-busting, theatrical tricks is employed from cartoon soundtracks, chalk drawings to represent objects, physical theatre, mime, parody and magic (of a sort) and it’s no surprise that writer, John Nicholson (co-artistic director of touring company, Peepolykus) cut his teeth on a clown course. We never had a Carry On Madame Bovary come out of Pinewood Studios but The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary! makes up for it and will bring laughter to many this Christmas.

Photography: Steve Gregson

LONDON PREMIERE

The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary!

BY JOHN NICHOLSON.

DIRECTED BY MARIEKE AUDSLEY.

17 NOVEMBER -

17 DECEMBER 2022

Box Office https://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/the-massive-tragedy-of-madame-bovary/

Reviewed by Nilgin Yusuf

An experienced author, lecturer and journalist (ex-Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and ELLE) Nilgin is developing her first full-length stage play, supported by Mrs.C’s Collective and the Arts Council