The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Fund us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Cannes
      • Sundance London
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • Tumblr

  • RSS


CultureTheatre

Iphigenia in Splott at the National Theatre

Iphigenia in Splott at the National Theatre | Theatre review
2 February 2016
Jim Compton-Hall
Avatar
Jim Compton-Hall
2 February 2016

Theatre review

Jim Compton-Hall

Iphigenia in Splott

★★★★★

Dates

27th January - 20th February 2016

Price

£15-£20

Links & directions

WebsiteMap

Devastating, heart-breaking, and powerfully modern, this one-woman show will leave even the most hardened and apathetic soul bleary-eyed and questioning our society.  

Iphigenia in Splott, directed by Rachel O’Riordan, begins with a caricature of a drunk, Welsh, council-flat girl flopping around on stage so the very white, middle class audience, with their expensive coats and red wine, can all have a good laugh. This play begs the audience to either laugh at it or hate it. But by the end, no one is doing either.

Sophie Melville is Effie, a painful wreck who the audience goes from turning their noses up at to desperately wanting to reach out and hug. This tragic, real-life drama pounds on the heart like a heavy sledge-hammer. Through rich dialogue and narrative, the character develops on stage until the audience begins to forget that she’s not one of them.

Melville is flawless. She performs for 75-minutes non-stop and never falters. Effie’s emotion is raw and familiar and painful, and Melville makes it real. But it’s not just the sadness that she gets right: her comic timing is superb as she delivers a number of humorous lines that are met with roars of laughter.

The plot of Iphigenia in Splott, written by Gary Owen, drags one way before yanking back the other. It seems to end up being the opposite of how it begun without anything really changing. Owen does an incredible job of playing on the audience’s sensibilities, predispositions and even prejudices to completely shatter their world.

Iphigenia in Splott is a rousing call for an immediate revolution. The story takes a crushing emotional toll for the simple reason that it is far too close to home and too real to cope with. This play transcends intelligent commentary. It is an important work of our time.

★★★★★

Jim Compton-Hall
Photos: Mark Douet

Iphigenia in Splott is on at the National Theatre from 27th January until 20th February 2016, for further information or to book visit here.

Watch the trailer for Iphigenia in Splott here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

The Phlebotomist at Hampstead Theatre

★★★★★
Daniel Amir
Read More

The Prudes at the Royal Court

★★★★★
Laura Foulger
Read More

Absolute Hell at the National Theatre

★★★★★
Connor Campbell
Read More

Strictly Ballroom at Piccadilly Theatre

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More

The Writer at the Almeida Theatre

★★★★★
Connor Campbell
Read More

Mayfly at the Orange Tree Theatre

★★★★★
Connor Campbell
Read More

Bat Out of Hell at the Dominion Theatre

★★★★★
Laura Ewing
Read More

Faceless

★★★★★
Cristiana Ferrauti
Read More

Half Breed

★★★★★
Bev Lung
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Jim Compton-Hall

Iphigenia in Splott

★★★★★

Dates

27th January - 20th February 2016

Price

£15-£20

Links & directions

WebsiteMap

Tickets

Theatre tickets

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Project Gastronomía: How will Londoners eat in 2050? A symposium on gastronomy and multisensory design
    Food & Drinks
  • Clare Smyth crowned the World’s Best Female Chef 2018
    Food & Drinks
  • Tokio Myers at the Forum
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Sherlock Gnomes premiere: A chat with James McAvoy, his co-stars and the film’s creators
    Cinema
  • The Outsider: An interview with director Thomas Meadmore
    Cinema
  • The Phlebotomist at Hampstead Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Prudes at the Royal Court
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Absolute Hell at the National Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Wound (Inxeba)
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Clare Smyth crowned the World’s Best Female Chef 2018
    Food & Drinks
  • The Phlebotomist at Hampstead Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Prudes at the Royal Court
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Wound (Inxeba)
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Strictly Ballroom at Piccadilly Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Writer at the Almeida Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre

Instagram

Something is wrong. Response takes too long or there is JS error. Press Ctrl+Shift+J or Cmd+Shift+J on a Mac.
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Fund us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • New London restaurant openings and pop-ups
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Subscribe
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2018 FL Media Ltd

Infinita at the Peacock Theatre | Theatre review
Taking Stock | Movie review