Julian Barnes described Flaubert’s 19th-century classic as “the first great shopping and fucking novel”. Both activities get its heroine, the beautiful, discontented Emma Bovary, into trouble. Married to a dull doctor, and mouldering away in the country where nothing ever happens, Emma – her head full of romantic novels – turns daily life into fantasy and pays the price. Even her death is botched. The joke is on her.
In an evening billed as “Gustave Flaubert’s complex novel lovingly derailed”, Peepolykus replace the author’s sly, dry comic observations with full-on slapstick. Towards the end, a man in a dinosaur costume pops by. There is the addition of a metatheatrical device in which the actors, who play both themselves and the characters, comment on the action. At one point Emma Fielding (who also plays Emma Bovary) suggests the heroine is suffering from depression and we need to see that, to which co-adapter Javier Marzan replies: “Emma, I’m not a dramaturg but I think dramatising six weeks of silence is going to be a bit boring.” So too is always looking for the next gag.
There is a good, tight, two-hour show struggling to get out of this over-extended evening in which no double entendre or idea from R&D has been discarded – including the ponderous framing device featuring two rat-catchers. It’s a pity, because this is sometimes very funny, perceptive and true to the novel, while Fielding is highly watchable and makes us like Emma more than Flaubert does.
There are some terrific moments, including the La Vaubyessard ball, where we see Emma reeling with emotion, trapped within a structure that neatly represents chandelier, crinoline and prison. This is a show delivered with both love and lunacy, but with more discipline it would point up how tragedy and farce are close cousins.
- At Liverpool Everyman until 27 February. Box office: 0151-709 4776.
