Theatre review: Madame Ovary, Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh

This autobiographical one-woman show starts off engagingly enough but becomes bogged down in a swamp of detail.

Madame Ovary is an inspiring story in need of some editing if it is to land as powerfully as it should

Madame Ovary, Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh * *

Ovarian cancer is one of the most common types of cancer and mainly affects women over 50.

Writer and performer Rosa Hesmondhalgh was diagnosed at a young age and this show documents seemingly every single moment of her journey through treatment to recovery. Such is Hesmondhalgh’s facility with the material she can rattle at pace through the overlong script whereas editing it would be a much wiser choice.

As a result, you can be genuinely delighted that Hesmondhalgh has beaten cancer yet still find her protracted “inspirational” finale insufferable.

Until 26 August

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