A truly emotional journey with a poignant (and political) message, and still devastatingly relevant in so many areas of modern society.
Initially premiered at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff in 2015, Iphigenia in Splott has travelled far and wide before landing at the Lyric Hammersmith for a four-week run. Following a successful run in Edinburgh, the National Theatre, and having been recorded for Audible, the show has even been picked up across the globe by theatres in Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay.
This one-woman show follows the story of Effie. Exuding entitlement and sass, Effie’s life is a mess of drugs, alcohol, and constant drama, she’s the kind of girl you might cross the street to avoid. Gary Owen takes inspiration from the Greek mythological character Iphigenia, a young woman who is sacrificed to save others, to paint the character of Effie. Although the similarities between the two are hard to pinpoint at the beginning, the play takes us on a devastating journey which unveils the truthfulness of the character’s model, as she has no choice but to make an ultimate sacrifice for the good of others.
Born and bred in Splott, a district in Cardiff with a rough reputation, Effie aggressively tells the audience in a direct address that people, not just people in general but us as the audience, view her as a ‘stupid slag’ and a ‘nasty skank’. She boasts about being drunk by 11.30am, burping in bouncer’s faces and chundering in Chicken Cottage. She’s accusatory of the audience, aggressive and volatile, we are driven toward a feeling of disgust toward her – until one night everything changes. Another drink-filled night at the club, and Effie meets a man who, for the first time, makes her really feel like she is not alone. But it’s, as they say, a ‘one night thing’. And this one night has a lasting consequence.
Owen’s writing has a poetic, rhyming ring to it, but is filled with and fuelled by foul language, dirty talk, and curse words. But somehow these two juxtaposing writing styles fit perfectly together, flowing as an honest and genuine expression of a young woman who has had so many choices in life taken from her. As Effie softens and prepares for motherhood we are drawn to her and cannot help but empathise. Effie’s tale is filled with struggle and loss. It is a devastating reflection of the unfair disadvantages faced by those of Effie’s socio-economic status. With almost a decade having passed since the play’s first production back in Cardiff, it is shocking how relevant the story still is. It seems we have seen no improvement in the state of government and the impacts of budget cuts across the UK. It brings up the question of when will the support system get the funding it needs.
Sophie Melville, the original Effie from the 2015 performance, reprises her role at the Lyric with what seems like incredible ease. She approaches the text with a cool confidence, spitting out the story with mannerisms that fit the character’s state of mood like a glove. To begin with, her strut and vitriolic tone radiates the confidence and arrogance of Effie. Melville approaches the traumatic moments of the play with a rawness and honesty that strikes home and devastates the watchers. She holds the silences, suspending the audience with her grief, weaving the story so viscerally that we feel her pain with her. One-woman shows, particularly one so emotionally charged, can be so draining, but Melville never let her energy drop. All in all, it is an excellent performance and is genuinely one to remember – or perhaps simply one so raw that it will be hard to forget. Rachel O’Riordan is equally a director to watch out for with an excellent sense of pace and timing.
The staging (Hayley Grindle) and lighting design (Rachel Mortimer) is simple yet effective, bars of light built up as a sort of back wall of the stage, with some scattered fragments around the floor. These intermittently light up depending on the moods of the scene. A particularly powerful moment came in the form of a spotlight in Effie’s most dire time of need. It served the scene perfectly.
A truly emotional journey with a poignant (and political) message, and still devastatingly relevant in so many areas of modern society, Iphigenia In Splott is not one to be missed.