Madame Ovary

The heartbreaking and hilarious true story of the author's own experience of ovarian cancer.

It's January and Rosa is writing her resolutions. This is her year. She is going to stop going out with plonkers, start doing yoga and write some really good art. But before she's had time to delete her dating apps and get into downward dog, she's diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And it's spread. Suddenly faced with hospitals, chemotherapy and her own mortality, Rosa's new goal for the year ahead is to survive it.

Based on her own blog, Rosa Hesmondhalgh's play Madame Ovary is a life-affirming monologue exploring the typical struggles of a twenty-something-year-old to stay relevant, with the less typical struggles of trying to stay alive.

Madame Ovary was first staged at the Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh, in 2019, winning the VAULT Pick of the Pleasance Award. It was subsequently staged at VAULT Festival, London, in 2020, and toured the UK.

'Devastating and beautiful and true' Caitlin Moran

Madame Ovary is also available in the volume Plays from VAULT 5.

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