Preview: The Madwoman of Chaillot

The play is an utter delight. It’s a play about outsiders, dreamers, and eccentrics coming together to protect what they love, and it manages to be simultaneously furious about the state of the world and completely joyful about being alive in it. I love the poeticism of the dialogue, the vividness of the characters, and the warmth and joy that underpins it all. Plus, who doesn’t love a bit of absurdity?

Community, collective action, and the quiet power of people who’ve been written off. It’s about the dangers of greed and corruption, and ultimately a celebration of hope.

Giraudoux wrote Madwoman in 1943 and the targets are depressingly familiar: developers who would sacrifice green space for profit, politicians serving the powerful while ignoring everyone else, a relentless drive to extract and accumulate at the expense of the living world.

It’s evergreen, sadly. And what can we do about that – fall into despair, or band together with those we love most to find laughter, hope, and community?

At the centre is the Countess Aurelia (Ingrid Miller), the Madwoman of Chaillot, a woman of fierce imagination who has simply refused to let the modern world diminish her. Set against her are the President (Ian Cuthbert), the Baron (Michaela Moher), the Broker (Gavin Donellan) and the Prospector (Alex Redmond), who are only concerned with acquisition and wealth.

And woven through everything are the ordinary people of the streets, a collection of outsiders and vagabonds, full of warmth and life. (Played variously by Servaise Ratnayake, Sion Watkins, Ane Omagu, Zoe Slack, Marysia Skwarka, Henry Heffer, Hannington Morgan and Celia Beketa.)

Genuinely lovely. SLT has been welcoming and collaborative from the very first conversation, and that spirit has carried straight through into the rehearsal room. The cast have been brilliant: curious, committed, and wonderfully game for the play’s stranger moments. I feel very lucky to have worked with such a great group, from the cast to the crew.