THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY

Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★

“a high-spirited affair that the cast dive into with relish, commitment and enviable energy”

Gustave Flaubert, the champion of realism, spent five years writing “Madame Bovary” only to find himself charged with immorality. Thankfully he was later acquitted, and the notoriety that the trial provoked accelerated the novel’s rise to bestseller status. It is now considered Flaubert’s masterpiece; one that maintains its revered place in literature (its influences have reached the likes of Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf and James Joyce). Okay, the novel was a touch bleak, to say the least, and we all know that it ends in tragedy. John Nicholson might be exaggerating the magnitude of the misery by prefixing his retelling of the story with the word ‘massive’. And he might be missing the point by unashamedly turning it into a farcical comedy. By his own admission, Nicholson has ‘lovingly derailed’ the story. Interpret that how you will. After all, theatre is all about free expression, and this play is very free with it.

The story of the cuckolded country doctor and his frustrated, pleasure-seeking wife is turned on its head as it wields its slapstick and wry exposition with such force that the fourth wall has no chance of standing. Even a sabotaged attempt at changing the ending is allowed into the edit. The result is a stew of French and Saunders, Blackadder and Upstart Crow, with a generous side order of pantomime. It is a high-spirited affair that the cast dive into with relish, commitment and enviable energy. Georgia Nicholson, as the ruffled Madame Bovary seeking amorous adventure, is surrounded by the whirlwind threesome of Stephen Cavanagh, Ben Kernow and Darren Seed who play at least a couple of dozen other characters. The story begins at the end with Madame Bovary recounting her life story to a pair of ratcatchers who have arrived in the village of Yonville. At times it is almost like a speed run. A ‘Potted Panto’ performed by ‘The Reduced Flaubert Company’.

Buried deep in the silliness are strokes of ingenuity. Kirstie Davis’ staging is slick and precise. Beneath the mayhem there is a reliance on accuracy of movement and timing, which the actors are well practiced at. Grace Murdoch’s movement and choreography is an extended conjuring trick, albeit one that seems to have wandered in from the set of ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’. Like the jokes, the influences are manifold, and the bawdy humour does become relentless and predictable. Nevertheless, the versatility of each performer shines through as they switch characters and costume at lightning speed.

You cannot help but admire the irreverence. Their approach to Flaubert’s text is embodied when, at one point, one of the ratcatchers exclaims “you took the words out of my mouth… but in a different order… and with different words”. There is a clear echo of Eric Morecambe’s famous line brilliantly delivered to André Previn. The bravery of this company matches its tongue-in-cheek audacity. In his mausoleum in Rouen, I’m sure Flaubert must be grinning, even if it can’t quite conceal an expression of open-mouthed bemusement. Over in Southwark, the audience seem to be of a similar opinion. Between moments of bewilderment the laughs come thick and fast (though as a grin rather than the out-loud variety) in this risqué, eccentric and anarchic comedy.

THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 9th December 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Tanya Pabaru

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH | ★★★★★ | November 2024

[TITLE OF SHOW] | ★★★ | November 2024

THE UNGODLY | ★★★ | October 2024

FOREVERLAND | ★★★★ | October 2024

JULIUS CAESAR | ★★★ | September 2024

DORIAN: THE MUSICAL | ★★½ | July 2024

THE BLEEDING TREE | ★★★★ | June 2024

FUN AT THE BEACH ROMP-BOMP-A-LOMP!! | ★★★ | May 2024

MAY 35th | ★★★½ | May 2024

SAPPHO | ★★ | May 2024

CAPTAIN AMAZING | ★★★★★ | May 2024

WHY I STUCK A FLARE UP MY ARSE FOR ENGLAND | ★★★★★ | April 2024

THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY

We’re now on BLUESKY – click to visit and follow

★★★★★

“Highly recommended for its sparkling script, extraordinary performances and wonderful design”

It’s not even Christmas yet, but if you and your kids are already suffering from a surfeit of seasonal festivities and are looking for something that won’t jingle bells and ho, ho, ho at you, (except in a non-Christmassy way) then hurry along to the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. Here you will find the delightful Oi Frog and Friends! Based on the best selling children’s book by Kes Gray and Jim Field, this fifty five minute entertainment provides all the elements of a good story, presented in a very young child friendly way. So child friendly, in fact, that this reviewer observed at least one infant happily enjoying the action. Kudos to the parents for getting their kids to good theatre at such a young age, and kudos to adaptors Emma Earle, Zoe Squire, Luke Bateman and Richy Hughes for managing such a seamless transition from the page to the stage.

Oi Frog and Friends! is not just entertainment, however. It has some important things to teach about finding one’s place (and sitting still on it) , and all the fun one can have with words while doing it. It’s a simple enough story. At the Sittingbottom School, (ho, ho) the bossy prefect Cat has the rule book about who sits on what—all determined by what rhymes with your name. Easy enough if you are a hare (chair), a fox (box) or a cat (mat). But what if you are an ostrich or a badger? Into this rule bound classroom comes Frog, a new student whose questions (and new rhymes) overturn the established order, much to Cat’s dismay, and the horror of the local media—a guest star turn by Meerkat TV’s Bob Burrows. (There’s a lot of funny punning as well as rhyming in this script, and you get drawn in. Oops).

The audience is enticed into this enchanting world by four actors who manage a breathtaking quantity of performance skills at breakneck speed. With the able direction of Emma Earle, they portray any number of animals using a combination of costumes and puppetry, and of course, sing and dance when appropriate as well. Particularly outstanding are John Winchester as Frog, and Darren Seed as Dog, but really the whole cast is brilliant at the way they leap nimbly between roles, including assisting one another when some nifty bunraku-type puppetry skills are required. Zoe Squire and Yvonne Stone, responsible for design, have come up with inventive creations that flawlessly integrate both actor and puppet into the character they play. Dog’s design is particularly clever in this respect, and it takes a skilled performer to be able to manage all the moving pieces in such a convincing way. Cat, played by Lucy Tuck, is a more conventionally designed character but still demands a lot of athleticism and comic ability. Tuck’s portrayal of a cat who is terrified of losing the last of her nine lives, is both funny and touching. The fourth member of the cast is Simon Yadoo as Cheetah, although he assists with the puppetry and takes on so many roles that it’s easy to lose count of how many times he changes costumes (and puppets). Still, his Carmen Miranda inspired turn as a Cheetah that must sit on a fajita was a big hit with the kids in the audience, and yes, even the big kids otherwise known as their parents.

In short, Oi Frog and Friends! is the perfect show to counter the pre-Christmas blahs, and satisfy the kid in all of us. Highly recommended for its sparkling script, extraordinary performances and wonderful design. It’s a rhyming good time! O.K. O.K—I’ll show myself out.

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Pamela Raith

THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY

Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★

“a high-spirited affair that the cast dive into with relish, commitment and enviable energy”

THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 9th December 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Tanya Pabaru

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY

THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY

Lyric Theatre

Reviewed – 5 December 2019

★★★★★

“Highly recommended for its sparkling script, extraordinary performances and wonderful design”

In short, Oi Frog and Friends! is the perfect show to counter the pre-Christmas blahs, and satisfy the kid in all of us. Highly recommended for its sparkling script, extraordinary performances and wonderful design. It’s a rhyming good time! O.K. O.K—I’ll show myself out.

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Pamela Raith

Oi Frog & Friends!

Lyric Theatre until 5th January

Last ten shows reviewed by Dominica: