Iphigenia in Splott NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Sherman Theatre presents a contemporary drama inspired by the Greek myth, which drives home the high price people pay for society's shortcomings. Part of 59E59's annual Brits Off Broadway festival.
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See it if I was mesmerized throughout the show, almost forgetting to breathe. The acting/writing/direction are exemplary. Don't miss this play.
Don't see it if you don't like one person shows; cursing and bullying offend you; confrontation makes you uncomfortable & life's a bitch topics depress you.
See it if You are interested in knowing more about a woman's experiences as she alienates & challenges you. Powerful performance of personal horror.
Don't see it if You're not interested in knowing how unlikeable people manage to pursue their lives without any guarantees.
See it if You wanna see a master class in acting that perfectly captures the unseen burdens and sacrifices of the exploited class.
Don't see it if You're rich and afraid you're going to be eaten soon.
See it if you want to see a powerhouse performance by an outstanding young actress. Riveting story with amazing delivery
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See it if You are prepared for a very intense and moving monologue about class exclusions from medical tx, housing, work&dysfunctional relationships.
Don't see it if You want to miss a tour-de-force performance that is powefully delivered, quite physical, but includes some rough language and Welsh accent. Read more
See it if you like 1 person shows with content, and thought provoking themes
Don't see it if you don't like British accents
See it if You love solo plays that explore the effects of economic cuts in working class.
Don't see it if you are uncomfortable with plays that take you in a destruction ride
See it if You like energetic & surprisingly political pieces that get their message across subtlety while revealing their strong female character.
Don't see it if for some reason you don't like well-written, strong, one-person shows with a relevant, working-class plight. Timely and should be seen.
Critic Reviews (27)
“Sophie Melville is young, so it’s hard to say that she will never top this, but I don’t know how she could…She was by turns hysterically funny, horrifying and heartbreaking. I don’t remember breathing or moving from the time she opened her mouth to the time the play was over. Rachel O’Riordan set a driving pace…The writing too, was superb, crisp and crackling, and never going down the obvious paths…A stirring cry for revolution.”
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"It’s almost impossible to look away. As directed skillfully by Rachel O’Riordan, Melville doesn’t really give us any chance to catch our breath and re-center ourselves from the moment she starts in at us. With a heavy Welsh accent and an aggressive, angry demeanor, Melville leads us through the troubled, messed-up life of this young woman...It’s a dangerous and edgy performance that feels completely raw and powerful. And epic in a way."
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"Owen's writing is potent, vivid, profane, and illuminated by verbal and physical variations that allow Melville to range from nasty to angry to aggressive to vulnerable to sweet to pathetic to cocky in a split second. The agile, quicksilver actress brings an emotional arsenal to Effie that fills every nook and cranny not only with fiercely human feeling but with piercing shafts of humor."
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“The main reason to see it is the electric performance by Sophie Melville as Effie…I was disappointed that the play morphed from a fascinating character study to a screed against social welfare cuts, even though, as a cautionary tale, it is certainly timely on this side of the pond as well. My other reservation is the difficulty I had making out some of the words because of the thick Welsh accent and rapid speech.”
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"Because the play is compressed into 80 jam-packed minutes (and this actress is electric), every minute takes on urgency. We have neither time nor space to ask why or whether. Tension is maintained, yet never static...The piece contains neither false word nor move...Sophie Melville is hypnotic...Director Rachel O’Riordan displays Effie’s volatility with as much variation as bite. What gets under the heroine’s skin, gets under ours."
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"A typhoon of a performance by Sophie Melville drives toward—and justifies—a final wrenching twist. Directed with just-shy-of-frantic energy by Rachel O’Riordan, Melville’s Effie is a raw slice of humanity...Effie is that rare and wonderful combination, a being of both grippingly real emotion and stylized characterization—a creature that can exist only in the theater...Go see this fiery production."
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"Sophie Melville is amazing as Effie in 'Iphigenia in Splott.' Her rage is transfixing and often humorous, albeit exhausting, as she berates anything or anyone that wanders into her attention. Effie tells the story of when her life changed, and she realized that more was possible in life. Her story revolves around a man she met at a bar that might or might be her soulmate and what happens to her after that meeting. It isn't a harrowing tale, but it is a rare and heartbreaking story."
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"An extraordinary one-woman show...As a theatrical performance, Melville leaves nothing to be desired...A performance that truly deserves five stars...But as to the play itself, and the message it seeks to convey, that is an entirely different matter...Owen is championing a world in which a sense of entitlement justifies individual irresponsibility...If you still believe in individuals taking responsibility for their own lives, you’re still likely to appreciate Melville’s terrific performance."
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