Ladies and Gentlethem – feeling a little upset? Have you tried hypnosis, psychoanalysis, smelling salts and it just doesn’t work? Try The City for Incurable Women!

Paris, 1880s. In a psychiatric hospital, female patients performed ‘hysteria’ for the public. The doctors went to extraordinary lengths to prove their theories about the four stages of madness. Today, in the 21st century, the storyteller Kae, begins to explore this history. They trace the echoes to the present, feeling them linger in their own body, and perhaps get a little too caught in the story.

International theatre-collective, fish in a dress follows the thread of the history of hysteria in their critically-acclaimed show (★★★★ The Guardian, ★★★★★ Theatre Weekly) as the audience becomes complicit in an outrageous tale of medical misogyny. (Warning: hysteria cure not included).

Devised by fish in a dress. Supported by Goethe Institut and London Performance Studios.

Performer – Charlotte McBurney
Director – Christina Deinsberger
Writer – Helena McBurney
Set & Costume Design – Vanessa Sampaio Borgmann
Sound Design – Bella Kear
Image Credit – Ellis Buckley

Additional information

Duration: 55 mins

Age guidance: 14+

Content warning: This show contains strong language and distressing or potentially triggering themes, including references to emotional abuse, mental health, misogyny, sexual violence and sexism. Live Flames, Loud Noises, Food/Drinks consumed by performers, Burning incense or herbs onstage

Wraparound workshop 10am – 1pm

Venue: Studio 1, Exeter Phoenix

*Subject to a £1.50 ticketing system charge. We don’t charge this to make a profit. Find out more >>