Review: Phaedra’s Love

Expertly brought to life by director Ralph Jefferys, Sarah Kane’s evocative tale ‘Phaedra’s love’ tells of the dangers of power, status and privilege, drawing on the well-worn threads of contemporary tragedy. The story follows the Athenian royal family, spearheaded by the striking Phaedra, wife of King Theseus, who is passionately in love with her step-son, Hippolytus.

This love threatens to destroy the reputation of the family. Which Hippolytus doesn’t seem to mind at all…

Jake Burke’s Hippolytus (Image Credit: Zainab Athumani)

In this unpredictable story, a modern adaptation of Seneca’s Phaedra, these canonical characters are recharged with palpable intensity in a gradual descent into despair at the mercy of love and boredom.

With a minimal set, sound and lighting, the actors were able to truly bring the story to life in a performance that was utterly compelling from start to finish.

Though the roles were at times unbelievably challenging, bringing to life characters laced with nuance and emotion, each actor handled the unusual script convincingly. Jake Burke shone as the moody, unpleasant young Hippolytus, switching effortlessly between complete disengagement and passionate anger. Imogen Gray‘s titular Phaedra also stood out, perfectly conveying a frustrated, distressed royal with poise and balance.

However, Phaedra’s Love is certainly not for the faint hearted.

A rather alarming set of content warnings (Image Credit: Grace Coton)

The play comes with just about every possible content warning as the intensity of the internal graphic sexual violence, blood and gore, suicide and even incest to name a few.

I found watching these intense themes play out in the space of a single hour a little jarring as the maelstrom of complexities these timeless characters draw out in a vast and ranging study on the dark corners of the human condition were externalised onto the stage.

Ella Scott as Strophe, sister of Hippolytus (Image Credit: Zainab Athumani)

Though the play was abundant in shocking moments (there was an audible gasp from the audience at one point), I felt at times that it could have had more of a clear message, or that the characters could have been more relatable.

And it seemed ‘shock’ was the word. And as the violence that played out was just as gratuitous and excessive as the content warnings note, though impressed by the spectacle I had witnessed, I left the play a little confused at what exactly ‘Phaedra’s Love’ was trying to say. However, it felt like this was sort of the point. Some stories demand discomfort in their telling. And this tragedy was definitely one of them.

In spite of some ‘sink or swim’ intentionally provocative moments (in which sometimes unfortunately the message fell victim to the former), This was by no means the fault of the team who put this production together; given the unique nature of the script and the two weeks they had to put it together, I think it was handled remarkably.

3.5/5

Phaedra’s love is showing at 9:30pm in the Pembroke New Cellars from the 25th-29th October

Tickets Available: Here

Feature Image Credit: Connor Philips

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