Head, shoulders, knees, and – uterus? Right from the get-go, The City for Incurable Women is a scathing and sarcastic attack on the institutions that historically labelled women as “hysterical” and reduced them to objects to be observed and gawked at. Discussing wandering wombs that could only be cured by making a woman sneeze and then shouting in her face, this show highlights and decries the utter ridiculousness that is the history of women’s medicine in a lecture-meets-stand-up style performance.
But the show swiftly evolves into more than just comedy, and dives to a much darker, more profound level. It reappropriates the stage which was previously used as a space to parade and demean “hysterical” women, and explores how we can interpret the “blurring between medical and theatrical” in a 21st century context.
The starring (and only) actor Charlotte McBurney inhabits a liminal space, constantly switching between different roles and blurring the boundary between doctor and patient. At times, this becomes confusing, although arguably this confusion and disorientation is a clever trick of the performance to create a sense of literal “hysteria”.
Another clever and immersive effect of the performance was the way that the audience themselves become part of the show, switching roles just as frequently as the McBurney. In true meta-theatrical style, they begin as their true selves – an Edinburgh Fringe audience – but they then become ‘gentlemen’ in an 1880s lecture theatre, and then hysterical women in need of cleansing.
While McBurney performs this show entirely alone on stage, they interact with voices playing over the speakers – sometimes these voices are doctors, other times it is not clear who exactly they are. Background noise becomes a key element of the performance, sometimes used to create a rhythm behind the spoken words, or to signal changes between characters. It became equally as important in the moments that it was not used, which often indicated tenser, darker moments of the show that had the audience utterly engrossed. What could have pushed the staging even further would have been more utilisation of the lighting, but I certainly cannot fault the use of sound.
This show moved through ideas at breakneck speed, bringing up so many important and relevant points on gender, medicine, and mental health that the show became so saturated in social commentary it was almost overwhelming.
And in terms of performance, there truly was a bit of everything: comedy, lecturing, monologuing, and physical theatre which arguably bordered on dance. The audience are truly thrown in headfirst, spun around, and then spat out feeling not only that they have learnt something, but that this show has left a lasting impression on them.
Engrossing, educational, and dark, this performance certainly should not be missed!
The City for Incurable Women is running until 25 August (except 12) at Upstairs at Pleasance Courtyard.
Buy tickets here.
Image courtesy of Ellis Buckley, provided to The Student as press material