Heading to Southwark Playhouse Borough this Christmas season (5 Dec 2024 – 11 Jan 2025), The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary flips the classic yet scandalous Gustave Flaubert novel on its head as audiences are invited into a riotous retelling with four actors as they battle on how they should stage the tragic tale, with fast-paced storytelling, misbehaving props and over thirty character quick changes.
With fast-paced storytelling, misbehaving props and over thirty characters to play, four actors cause havoc as they attempt to recreate the classic yet scandalous French novel Madame Bovary (1856), a book considered so controversial on its release that the author Gustave Flaubert went to court on charges of obscenity.
The novel, about a women struggling with the patriarchy, is flipped on its head as the audience is invited into a riotous retelling as four actors battle on how they should stage the complex and tragic story, resulting in a much more lighthearted affair. With an eclectic soundtrack and slapstick choreography, Ha Hum Ah Productions and the Minack Theatre shake up the story of Emma Bovary highlighting the anarchy, humour and tragedy from the original in this fresh new adaptation.
Emma Bovary is bored. She’s bored with her boring doctor husband, bored with her boring provincial village and bored with her role as a dutiful wife in (boring) nineteenth-century France. But Emma reads novels. Lots of novels. And in novels, life is much more fun…
Producer Ben Kernow said, “We are thrilled to be bringing The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary to Southwark Playhouse this Christmas season. Having toured nationally it has been a joy to witness the deep connection people feel to the tragic story of Emma Bovary, and we are eager to bring this beloved story to Southwark Playhouse for a six-week run. Despite the inherently tragic nature of the source material, John Nicholson’s adaptation brilliantly extrapolates every ounce of humor from the novel, creating a theatrical experience that serves as the perfect remedy for those wanting to escape the usual old lineup of theatrical offerings at this festive time of the year.”
