Iphigenia yn Sblot, Branwen Cennard’s new adaptation of Gary Owen’s Iphigenia in Splott, will tour 11 venues across Wales in August and September this year, premiering at the National Eisteddfod in Pontypridd followed by a run of performances at Sherman Theatre.
Seren Hamilton will take the title role in her first major performance while completing her final year in Acting at Rose Bruford College of Performing Arts. Alice Eklund will direct this new production nearly a decade after it first became an international smash-hit.
One-woman play Iphigenia in Splott is a furious analysis of our society and the hard-bitten lives it bears. Since its premiere at Sherman Theatre in 2015, it has won the James Tait Black Prize for Drama 2016 and the Best New Play Award at the UK Theatre Awards 2015, with the original production touring to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, across Wales and the UK and as far as New York and Berlin. In 2022, the play was re-staged by Lyric Hammersmith to great acclaim. It has been translated into and performed in several languages the world over.
Gary Owen has said: “Over the past nine years Iphigenia in Splott has been seen all over the world. I’m so grateful to the Sherman for bringing the show home to Wales. And as someone who’s learned Welsh, it’s a huge honour to be part of the National Eisteddfod. I can’t wait to see Alice and Seren create a brand new Effie from Branwen’s translation”
Alice Eklund has said: “I’m so excited to direct this production. Iphigenia in Splott played a huge part in my introduction to new writing and I can’t wait to see Effie’s story come to life in Welsh. Doing this play in this way feels so timely, so relevant and so needed right now. The Sherman has felt like a home to me for the last 4 years and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to do such an iconic play in the Studio and across Wales. Gary’s writing with Branwen’s translation is a perfect match, and hearing it out loud gave me the same energised, fiery feeling that I got upon the first read all those years ago. I’m so ready to get started with the team on this new production of a play that is at the forefront of new writing in Wales. Building a new world around Effie, taking us on the journey with her, here and now.”
Iphigenia yn Sblot is funded by Arts Council Wales.
Find out more about the Sherman performances of Iphigenia yn Sblot as well as the tour here.