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Review: Iphigenia in Splott

A moving depiction of the effects of austerity


'What gets me through is knowing I took this pain, and saved all of you from suffering the same.'

The name of Gary Owen’s play doesn’t immediately indicate its content. The Greek figure of Iphigenia, who is sacrificed by her father for the greater good of Troy, is transformed into Effie, a young woman from an area of Cardiff hit especially hard by austerity. Although it tackles these big, urgent issues, it always feels intensely human and personal. Meg Coslett is captivating as Effie, and much of the play’s success in addressing these urgent and sensitive themes is down to her.

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Photo: David Swarbrick

On meeting Effie, she describes how she is perceived as a ‘stupid slag. Nasty skank’, and immerses the audience into her daily routine – a cycle of dreadful hangovers that last three days, recovery, and then drinking and doing it all again. But on one of these nights out she meets someone, and her life is never the same. The rest of the play hurtles through the consequences of that fateful moment to its devastating conclusion.

What is essentially an 80 minute monologue is challenging for any actor, but one which Meg Coslett rises to. She navigates Owen’s script expertly, and whilst she is most powerful in scenes of great emotion, the play is not without lighter moments and elements of fun. The lighter comedic moments and the breaking of the fourth wall through amusing audience interactions is essential in an otherwise heavy play. She is also fantastic in depicting other characters; although not present, Coslett’s impression of the other people in Effie’s life helps to construct her world whilst sustaining the theme of her loneliness.

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Photo: David Swarbrick

Her isolation is also emphasised through the simple set and lack of props. The set consists of one block, so Effie’s world is created through Coslett’s acting, as well as the lighting and sound. Text message notifications, the sound of the sea, and the phone dialling all serve to illuminate her environment despite the lack of set. The most effective tech moment was the scene set on the dance floor, where the lighting and sound transforms the bare room into something reminiscent of Dangerspoons, with neon flashing lights and deep bass.

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Leeza Isaeva

Although the sound generally added to the atmosphere, there were moments when it didn’t feel particularly necessary, such as the choice of sad music in one particular scene. There was enough emotion in the acting itself that it almost seemed out of place. The challenges of the Corpus Playroom as a space meant that the lighting was sometimes inconsistent, with Effie’s face illuminated to one side and not the other, which if deliberate was confusing. At the same time, this barely detracted from the overall story and message, which was generally enhanced by the use of lighting and sound.

Overall, this is a gripping play about difficult yet necessary subject matter, particularly for the theatre scene in Cambridge. In a city which was named the ‘least equal’ for two years in a row in 2017 and 2018, the reality of austerity is much closer than it seems from the Cambridge bubble. Stories like those of Effie are out there and need to be heard, and the team behind ‘Iphigenia in Splott’ have done her story justice.

So, don’t be put off by the seemingly unpronounceable name (it’s not mentioned in the play, so I’m still at a loss), and go see ‘Iphigenia in Splott’, for a searingly powerful performance which grabs you from the start and doesn’t let you look away.

4.5/5 stars

Cover: Anastasia Joyce