Photo: Mark Douet, 2017
Photo: Mark Douet, 2017 
Photo: Mark Douet, 2017
Photo: Mark Douet, 2017 
Photo: Mark Douet, 2017
Photo: Mark Douet, 2017 
Photo: Mark Douet, 2017
Photo: Mark Douet, 2017 
 

Iphigenia in Splott

by Gary Owen
Direction: Rachel O’Riordan (Cardiff)

Guest performance during FIND 2017

04/07/2017, 19.00–20.20
In English with German surtitles

Splott, a working-class district of Cardiff in Wales. Effie is young, unemployed and furious at the world. The only brief respite from this miserable existence is to get drunk and high. Every night is taken up with boozing, arguing, fuckingand sometimes even fighting; every morning begins with a hangover and a beer to ease the headache. Then, next evening, it starts all over again. But one night Effie meets ex-soldier Lee who had part of his leg blown off in action. Effie and Lee are immediately attracted to one another and, for the first time since the explosion, Lee reveals his body to a woman. Effie knows how important this moment is for Lee and takes the responsibility very seriously; their vodkasoaked night together is unforgettable. Next morning Effie feels something totally new and wonderful: she is no longer alone. Effie and Lee swap phone numbers and arrange to meet the same evening. But Lee fails to turn up and, when Effie tries to phone him, his number doesn’t work. »Iphigenia in Splott« is inspired by the story of Iphigenia who, in Greek mythology, was sacrificed by her father to gain good winds for the voyage to Troy. But this play tells a contemporary tale against the backdrop of a crumbling welfare state and asks the question: who today is being sacrificed for motives of profit and self-interest?

Gary Owen, is the winner of the Best New Play at the UK Theatre Awards 2015 and the James Tait Black Drama Prize for »Iphigenia in Splott« as well as the George Devine, Meyer Whitworth and PearsonBest Play Awards. His other plays include »Violence and Son«, »Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco«, »The Shadow of a Boy«, »The Drowned World«, »Mrs Reynolds and the Ruffian« and »Love Steals Us From Loneliness«.

A Sherman Theatre, Cardiff production.

Direction: Rachel O’Riordan
Duration: ca. 80 minutes