Catch the UK tour of The City for Incurable Women, a play by Austrian theatre director Christina Deinsberger, this autumn.

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, The Stage, ★★★★★ 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.

Dates and further information:

12.9. Nottingham Playhouse
https://nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/events/the-city-for-incurable-women/

15.9. The Bay Theatre, Weymouth
https://www.ticketsource.com/thebaytheatre/the-city-for-incurable-women/e-yrozxg

17.9. Dorchester Artshttps://www.dorchesterarts.org.uk/2026/06/23/thurs-17-september-the-city-for-incurable-women-a-fish-in-a-dress/

18.9. Shaftesbury Arts
https://shaftesburyartscentre.org.uk/events/the-city-for-incurable-women/

20.9. The Mowlem, Swanage
https://themowlem.com/event/the-city-for-incurable-women/

24.9. Sheringham Little Theatre
https://sheringhamlittletheatre.com/shows/the-city-for-incurable-women/

25.9. St George's Theatre, Great Yarmouth
https://stgeorgestheatre.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873684568

28.9. The Old Operating Theatre, London
https://oldoperatingtheatre.com/event-posts/the-city-for-incurable-women-performance/