85. The City Madam - Swan Theatre

I feel a little sorry for The City Madam, sandwiched in between two of the most impressive productions I’ve seen at the RSC it was bound to suffer somewhat by comparison. In the end though I couldn’t shake the feeling that whilst there were some wonderful performances, an interesting design and some funny set pieces – that the writing just wasn’t strong enough to stand up against Shakespeare. (Though truly who can? I occasionally get irrationally sad that there was a genius in the world and there isn’t anymore – I may be more than a little odd).


The play quite possibly suffered as well from some of the most ridiculously uncomfortable seats I’ve experienced in the theatre – I seriously don’t recommend the high seats in the first gallery, they’re cheaper for a reason and if you’re lost in the performance (as I was with Antony and Cleopatra) it’s possible to tune out your discomfort. Here though my seat started to feel like an instrument of torture and left me bruised for a week.

Deep down though I think the scattered incoherency of the play was only superficially down to the pain. Whilst individual scenes were good they felt too disconnected to be truly satisfying and people’s motivations, actions and journeys didn’t feel coherent to me. Combined with the fact that the underlying message of the play was also distancing and I found few of the characters sympathetic or relatable – making it difficult to enjoy the play.

That said, the production itself had merit – I liked the simplicity of the stage design and the contrast it provided with the luscious extravagant costumes. I enjoyed the magic and the puppetry, though it again felt a little out of place in the production and there were several scenes that I liked individually. I also thought several of the performances were very good with – Alex Hassell, Pippa Nixon, Christopher Godwin and Liz Crowther all standing out, though my particular favourite had to be Felix Hayes. The undoubted star of the show is Jo Stone-Fewings – a standout in last years Twelfth Night and excellent once again. He comes the closest to finding a coherent journey for his character, stole most of the scenes he was in and was responsible for the most mesmerising banana-eating I have ever seen, onstage or off.

Overall a disappointing experience, but still with some worthwhile elements. Though it’s weakness can’t help but feel a shame given the strength of the rest of the current RSC season.