Iphigenia in Aulis was first staged, alongside the Bacchae and the Alcmaeon, at the Great Dionysia in 405 B.C. It premiered shortly after Euripides’ death. It’s likely that Euripides’ son (or nephew) took the reins and staged the play. Nepotism was as rife in showbiz thousands of years ago as it is today. Rather like the Bible, the original text remains an object of debate. It was probably incomplete when the playwright died. Scholars remain in a schism over what was added posthumously, by whom and for what reason.
Adapted and directed by Serdar Biliş, Arcola Theatre’s Iphigenia uses Stephen Sharkey’s English take on the play. It dramatizes the myth regarding the sacrifice of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra’s daughter Iphigenia. Why would a father slaughter his daughter? Well, the Greeks need to sail to Troy, win the Trojan War, and retrieve Menelaus’s wife Helen. They can’t crack on with this ridiculous mission as there’s no breeze. The fleet and a twitchy army are marooned in a placid harbour. Rumour takes hold that the goddess Artemis will deliver a war friendly wind if the blood of Iphigenia is spilled at the temple.
The original poetry of the language is centre stage in this faithful translation. A few big characters (Achilles, Menelaus) have been chopped to keep it as a snappy adaption. Thrown into the mix are contemporary video testimonies from mothers who’ve lost children to war and women who’ve suffered at the hands of abusive fathers.
Even though Iphigenia’s narrative is highly fanciful, it seems to make more sense when added to the symbolic and bonkers backstory. Simon Kunz (Agamemnon) wanders onto the stage and addresses the audience, not as the Argive king, but as the British actor of stage and screen. Grumbling at the indignity of having to set up the stage, his address is interrupted by a phone call from his son, angling for money. In a meta moment, we eavesdrop as Kunz discusses the play that’s yet to start. He tells his kid about the drama and the wild myths which precede it. The audience overhears a high-speed summary of Greek mythology aimed at an adolescent lad. It’s a very canny move.
Simon Kunz pitches Agamemnon as a military dictator mixed with an archetypal epic patriarch. He has a Shakespearean gravitas. At first, it all seems too big for an intimate studio in a Hackney basement, but it’s done with such commitment that it’s hard not to roll with it. When Indra Ové stalks onto stage as Iphigenia’s mother, Clytemnestra, she grabs the melodrama and lyricism with a passion that’s utterly compelling. Costume Designer Mona Camille delivered perfection by styling Clytemnestra like a Kolonaki trophy wife. Ové wears the chic, tailored silk ensemble with catwalk poise and fierce regal rage.
Mithra Malec won plaudits as Anya in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard opposite Ian McKellen. As Iphigenia, she brings raw emotion to the quixotic protagonist. Her desperate pleas for life, to a hard-faced father evolve into a patriotic hymn of self-sacrifice. Don’t Kill Me Daddy becomes Slay Me for Greece, Daddy. It’s a measure of her talent that Malek makes that dramatic transition seem almost relatable.
Kalia Lyraki is a Cretan composer with an ear for East Med and Middle Eastern vibes. She opens the show with a haunting flute solo. At different points, she accompanied the action with an a cappella lullaby and a traditional mourning lament. Sung in Greek, Lyraki’s musical interludes were melancholy, moving and atmospheric.
Among the digital diaries which punctuated the classical narrative was a mother who spoke of her dead son as a martyr. Shot in the back of his head, her son bled into the earth of his grave, days after death. She spoke of this non-clotting gore as evidence of something miraculous at play. It was a stark reminder that a belief in fables remains an ongoing problem.
Euripides was sick of the raging Peloponnesian War when he wrote Iphigenia several millennia ago. War forced him from Athens and he became understandably vexed by the dim futility of genocidal conflict. Arriving in Dalston on a sunny spring evening, as drones commit murder in Europe and war crimes escalate in the Middle East, it’s blindingly clear how relevant this play is today. Not only that, thousands of years later, we are still incapable of learning its lessons. This bold and brilliant production rightly highlights the anti-war despair at the heart of this play.
Iphigenia is at Arcola Theatre until 2nd May, Home – Arcola Theatre
Reviewer: Stewart Who?
Reviewed: 13th April 2026
North West End UK Rating: