If you have followed Iphigenia in Splott from Wales to the rest of the UK, Berlin and New York, you won’t be surprised that this review will sing its praises. Over the last seven years, none of its biting commentaries has been lost as it embarks on its final outing at the Lyric Hammersmith.
Sophie Melville as ‘Effie’ makes large of the little moments that create a life. In a totally commanding one-woman performance, she takes the audience on a tour of their own preconceptions of the loud and provocative central character. Instantly, without warning, you are whisked away to the world as Effie chooses to see it, regardless of whether you hate it, love it, or are scared of it. The point is to try and understand it, as it is slowly compressed by an invisible austerity pressing down from above. Melville’s immense, boisterous physicality is dampened until, finally, she is still, with her every word bearing the tragedies that has made her so.
