Wives are trouble - that's a truth universally acknowledged from 'Wife Swap' to Gustav Flaubert's classic novel Madame Bovary. I don't think too many husbands would want to swap places with Charles - Dr Bovary, who in this production is forced to watch his wife Emma's graphic infidelities re-enacted before his very eyes. Fay Weldon's script creates a dialogue between the adulterous Emma and her husband Charles over an extremely long and uncomfortable breakfast. It enables the other characters to walk in and out whilst Charles and Emma bicker and row furiously.

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Shared Experience is a very physical theatre company - and this is an extremely physical production (particularly the salacious sex scenes between Emma and her lovers which drew gasps from the ladies in the front row). We are so used to seeing sexuality depicted on the screen that when it's played out right under our noses it's too stark and confrontational. Madame Bovary is a play about women and men, honesty and sex .. Themes which still fascinate us today (Wife Swap again!!)

This was one of the best pieces of theatre I have seen, with acting so emotionally charged it was exhausting to watch. Amanda Drew as Emma was like Elizabeth Taylor.. Flirtatious, beautiful and mean. Her husband Charles could have been down trodden and dull, but instead he was a simple man, who didn't understand his wife's inner most thoughts, no matter how hard he tried.

Watching this production of Madame Bovary is infinitely more fulfilling than staying in and watching reality TV - like Wife Swap, the play forces you to ask questions and make moral judgements about the lives of others and relationships which really haven't changed since 1856.

Words: Claire Hamilton