Stumbling down Clifton Street at 11:30 a.m. drunk, Effie is the kind of girl you'd avoid eye contact with, silently passing judgment. We think we know her, but we don't know the half of it. Effie's life spirals through a mess of drink, drugs and drama every night, and a hangover worse than death the next day - till one night gives her the chance to be something more.
In this powerful, new adaptation of the enduring Greek myth of the ill-fated Iphigenia, playwright Gary Owen, director Rachel O'Riordan, and actress Sophie Melville (who received a Drama Desk nomination for her stunning, furious solo performance) construct a modern day probe into the ostracized corners of society - and those who live there, victims of our own negligence. A New York Times Critic's Pick that received the James Tait Black Award and UK Theatre Award for Best New Play, Iphigenia in Splott was first produced by Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, UK.
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[You lot / Sitting back, taking it easy, waiting for me / To - what? Impress you? Amaze you? Show you what I've got?]***
(Audible Studios, 19 March 2019, 1 hour 50 minutes, audiobook, bought from @audibleuk)
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I absolutely loved this play. It reminded me a lot of something that Kate Tempest could have written. I loved the way the play is structured. It opens with Effie, a pitiable, broken character, promiscuous, stumbling home drunk, hateful and even a little viscous. The play then moves back in time to the events that changed Effie and turned her into this broken, hollow thing. I didn't expect what had happened to her and the tragedy that shapes her shocked me. Effie is the sole voice in the play and she is stunning. I'd have loved to see this performed.