Review: The Massive Tragedy Of Madame Bovary at the Barn

The Massive Tragedy Of Madame Bovary at the Barn Theatre in Welwyn Garden City. (Image: Simon Wallace / MeltingPot Pictures)

I need to get something clear at the get-go because I worry some might think that watching Madame Bovary will be a bleak affair and give it a miss in favour of repotting the house plants.

But this is ‘The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary!', Gustave Flaubert’s complex novel lovingly derailed by Peepolykos and it is HILARIOUS. I cannot remember the last time I laughed so much at the theatre.

Peepolykos are an exciting 25-year strong UK-based theatre company whose anarchic comedy is often compared to the Marx Brothers and Monty Python.

In this production a cast of four Barn Theatre regulars spin in and out of the stage’s revolving doors bringing the 30-plus characters to life in a whirligig of different accents, dodgy wigs, bonnets and boffing. A LOT of comedic boffing.

The cast are phenomenal. Josie Melton is delightful to watch in every one of her countless roles. Her Fagin-like Lheureux glides across the stage seducing Madame Bovary to her downfall.

The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary at the Barn Theatre. (Image: Simon Wallace / MeltingPot Pictures)

Danny Swanson is comic timing perfection, whether playing a disapproving nun, a modern-day actor doing his best not to be sexist or Doctor Bovary disappointing on his wedding night.  

Gavin Palmer plays an impressive array of 19th century lotharios and heartthrobs, including a topless Jesus which brings the house down. A marvellously natural actor, as Javier, he frequently stops the action of the play to make sure the audience understand what is going on, confusion and hilarity ensue.

Performance times

The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary runs at the Barn Theatre until Saturday, May 18, matinee at 2.30pm, evening performances at 8pm.

Tickets cost £15, from Barn Theatre box office on 01707 324300, or online at www.barntheatre.co.uk

Yet, it’s not all jolly romp. As one perplexed yet admiring reviewer of Madame Bovary on Goodreads states "This is the most anxiety inducing book I have ever read about marriage". In the adaptors’ own words this piece "swings full pelt between clown and tragedy".

Madame Bovary is depressed, she longs for a passionate life and the finer things, neither of which her provincial doctor husband can provide. But she learns too late that ‘the world has hungers of its own’ and adultery, destitution and death ensue.

It is credit to actress Lorna Thompson, who gives a tour de force performance as Madame Bovary, that the emotional core of the play isn’t lost amongst all the clowning. She too stops proceedings, coming out of character to speak as an actress lobbying for the character she cares for, begging her fellow actors not to reduce her "to some French tart who has some affairs and then commits suicide", pleading with us to remember the heavily patriarchal society Madame Bovary existed in.

This is another stellar production from director Lou Wallace who brought us the beautiful Being Jane Eyre last season. There is so much heart and creativity in her shows, and nothing shows this more than her use of music throughout The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary!

The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary at the Barn Theatre (Image: Simon Wallace / MeltingPot Pictures)

Musicians Rob Wallace and George Curry, dressed in stripy Bretons and berets, are featured on stage throughout and a score of modern classics underpin both the comedy and the tragedy of the play.

Music adds such richness to this production, sometimes in a punchline; the jaunty playing of ‘There’s a rat in my kitchen’ as vermin scuttle across the stage gets a big laugh from the audience. But the music also echoes Madame Bovary’s inner world, ‘Girls Just Want to have Fun’ becomes her lament, sung with such feeling by George Curry at some of Madame Bovary’s most painful moments.

Now you may think I have dropped some spoilers in this review, and I would like to assure you that I haven’t. This isn’t Madame Bovary the novel, remember, it is deconstruction of it in which the classic plot gets derailed by a couple of rat catchers and anything could happen.

I urge you to catch this wonderful production if you can, it is very probable you won’t have seen anything quite like it.