”Iphigenia in Splott” to be revived at Lyric Hammersmith

The Lyric Hammersmith has announced a revival of Gary Owen’s acclaimed one-woman play Iphigenia in Splott.

Originally commissioned and produced by Sherman Theatre and later performed at the National Theatre in 2016, it is directed by the Lyric’s current artistic director Rachel O’Riordan.

Sophie Melville will reprise her role as Effie, for which she won a The Stage Award for Acting Excellence and an Evening Standard Award nomination for Best Actress.

The play, which is inspired by the Greek myth and centres on a young woman in south Cardiff, opens on 30 September (previews from 26 September) and runs until 22 October.

The designer is Hayley Grindle, lighting designer Rachel Mortimer and sound designer Sam Jones.

O’Riordan said: “This play is a call to arms and its relevance now is sharper than ever before. It delves into austerity and cuts; are we colluding as a society where some people get to live and others get to survive? What this play does so beautifully is give voice to something that we can all easily ignore.

“For me, it felt important to bring this work back. Theatre’s role is to showcase us as a society: why we are here and how we got here. It’s not been staged in a proscenium arch theatre before and on our stage, it will play its biggest house ever.”

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