Bovary

About

A free stage adaptation of Gustave Flaubert’s classic novel, Bovary is directed by Carme Portaceli from an adaptation by Michael De Cock. The production removes Emma’s many lovers to concentrate on her charged relationship with her husband, Charles. With a minimalist scenic design that heightens the tension carried by the performers, the staging suspends the characters in a present, timeless space rather than confining them to the past. Portaceli reframes Emma Bovary not as a tragic dreamer, but as a feminist voice for the 21st century. Through Emma’s dreams, desires, and frustrations, the work interrogates the social conditions of womanhood and advances the thesis: “It’s not femininity that needs rethinking, it’s masculinity.” By bringing Emma into contemporary theatre, the creators align her with heroines such as Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina, and Mrs. Dalloway, challenging patriarchal structures and narrow definitions of gender to reveal a modern portrait of existential emptiness and resistance.