The City for Incurable Women

An outrageous - and true - tale of medical misogyny

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 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 and costume design: Vanessa Sampaio Borgmann
Sound design: Bella Kear
Photograph: Ellis Buckley

★★★★ "blends misogyny and mental illness into fluid theatrical poetry ... half lecture, half nightmare" - The Guardian
★★★★ "Fleetly performed ... thoughtfully put-together work" The Stage
★★★★ "Medicine meets theatre ... a thread of dark humour woven through it all" - British Theatre Guide
★★★★★ "Charlotte McBurney is mesmerising ... a captivating solo show" - Theatre Weekly

Duration: approximately 60 minutes
After the performance ticketholders are invited to join an optional Q&A with the company in the bar.
Recommended age : 14+

Monday 30 March 2026 : 7.30pm
Tuesday 31 March 2026 : 2.30pm

Tickets : £15.00
Available from https://swallowtheatre.co.uk
or telephone 01988 850368

The Swallow Theatre
Moss Park
Ravenstone
Whithorn
DG8 8DR