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

★★★★★

“Storytelling at its very, very finest. And that is a rarity that ought to be treasured”

To preface: if you can go see this, you must; you absolutely must.

The Happiest Man on Earth is earth-shatteringly moving. It is Aristotelian in the very best sense, despite not having any of the structures outlined in the Poetics. This is storytelling which cannot but leave you changed.

Directed by Ron Lagomarsino, The Happiest Man on Earth is the adaptation of Eddie Jaku’s best-selling memoir, of the same name, which was published when Jaku was 100 years old. Originally produced in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, this is the story of a German-born Jewish man who, against an unending avalanche of impossibility, survived the Holocaust. Yet, it is selfless; it is a tale of indefatigable kindness, compassion, and friendship. It is history, axiology, deontology, and all the other philosophical ‘ologies’ in one. But it is also storytelling at its very, very finest. And that is a rarity that ought to be treasured.

To conceptualise this story as a piece of theatre is perhaps to devalue it: not because theatre is not important enough, but because The Happiest Man on Earth transcends theatrical definition.

Kenneth Tigar carries this 90-minute story single-handedly, and never, not for one second, does he lose anyone’s attention. It is rare to see an actor in his more mature years – I will not say eld*rly – on stage, not to mention in a one-man performance. More remarkably, Tigar plays Eddie Jaku from 1933 (when Jaku was 13 years old) up until his old age, and at every point he has you locked in. Before the story-proper begins, Tigar greets the audience and explains the reason for telling his story: he has agreed to tell it at his grandsons’ synagogue and is scared; he doesn’t yet know if it is a story one ought to share.

Lagomarsino’s direction is also brilliant, complimenting Tigar consistently. Stage design (James Noone) and sound design (Brendan Aanes) were simple and sparse, but expertly curated, seamlessly adding to the fabric of the piece.

I am loathe to say more, or to detail any of the story itself. We are always at risk of forgetting, and worse, of neglecting history, especially its atrocities. If we are going to learn, this is the way to do it. The history of the Holocaust, in all its evil – and indeed the Banality of that Evil (thanks, Hannah Arendt) – belongs to our collective memory. We do not live in a historical vacuum. Our relationship to existence and to each other should be informed by the past and our relationship to it.

To postface: The woman next to me watched this with the repeated refrain of ‘oy vey’ as she silently distributed tissues to all those in her immediate vicinity. She may not be there again, so do stock up on said tissues in advance.

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

THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★★★

“Storytelling at its very, very finest. And that is a rarity that ought to be treasured”

THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 25th November 2024

by Violet Howson

Photography by Daniel Rader

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH

THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH