Iphigénie à Splott

From 16 years old

Performance created on September 14, 2021 at Théâtre de Poche, Brussels

As the Greeks prepare to set sail for Troy, their ships are becalmed. To gain the gods’ favor and summon the winds, Agamemnon learns that he must sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia…

Across centuries, Iphigenia has become the symbol of the sacrificial young woman. Every era has had its own Iphigenia. Today, she no longer lives in Greece, but in Splott, a neighborhood of Cardiff crippled by unemployment and poverty.
Her name is Effie, and she’s the kind of girl you avoid making eye contact with, afraid she might blow up in your face. She spends her days doing nothing. To escape the misery, she drinks in bars, drowning herself in alcohol.
And then, one day… with what she thought was true love, she becomes pregnant.
A happy event that hides several disasters…

Drawing inspiration from Greek mythology, Gary Owen creates a modern-day Iphigenia, a young woman who is fierce, funny, and furious. Sacrificed on the altar of profitability, she embodies the voice of society’s forgotten, in a world corroded by austerity.