It’s about time someone saw the chuckles in Madame Bovary.

I mean: depression, betrayal, suicide, amputation – they just scream comedy.

Certainly there was plenty of scream-out-loud laughter at this latest stab at interpreting Gustave Flaubert’s immensely powerful work exploring the headlong car crash of Emma Bovary as she struggles against the constraints of being a woman in Victorian-era France.

Theatre group Peepolykus have taken it on themselves to inject more than a little humour into what hitherto has tended to be considered a pretty dour piece of work examining the lengths the soul will go to escape the mundane.

A pair of squabbling rat catchers and a fair amount of fast costume changes, not to mention the guest appearance of a dinosaur, are just some of the additions to the established plot by creators John Nicholson and Javier Marzan who also make up half of the foursome taking all of the roles.

Emma Fielding takes the title Madame Bovary, often pausing to explain to the audience just why she feels her character is, well, misunderstood and, well, poorly represented as a man-mad slapper.

John Nicholson plays her husband the doctor, who retains throughout an incredible naivety both to the wanderings of his wife and the necessary skills to perform as a competent physician.

Javier Marzan excels as all of Madame’s lovers as well as a variety of other roles. The versatile Jonathan Holmes plays almost everyone else, superb as several atrociously unattractive women and managing to lose a leg along the way.

Flaubert’s far from simple tale is told in fast-paced style, a wonderfully imaginative set at times almost stealing the show: watch out for the blood-letting scene.

As with all good comedy there is true pathos, and far from turning Madame Bovary into a figure of fun the audience leaves with no little understanding of what drove her to her tragic demise. Gemma Bodinetz’s direction is superb.

At its heart this is a tragedy, but as tragedies go it is a scream.

Runs until March 19.