Phaedra's Love

About the production

Following our success with Crave in 2002, we brought a new production of Sarah Kane's least performed play to the Fringe in 2004. First debuted at the Gate in 1996, Phaedra's Love is a brutal yet darkly comic adaptation of the classic myth of desperate love and obsession. In a royal palace, in an unknown time or place, Phaedra is secretly in love with her stepson Hippolytus, the obnoxious and amoral prince. When the truth about this forbidden desire comes crashing out, the family is ripped apart, with shocking consequences. Performed in the atmospheric vaults of the Underbelly, Phaedra's Love was a powerful play, given a new lease of life in this timely revival.

Director Jonathan Heron says: "Vitality and immediacy were central to this production which honoured Kane's juxtaposition of beauty and brutality - a constant throughout her work gathering in pace with Cleansed and concluding with Crave and 4.48 Psychosis. Although the first scene features the initial stage direction 'A royal palace', Kane then describes Hippolytus' disgusting and degraded state. It is through this contrast of brutalised beauty that the production operated. In both design and performances, a sense of royalty and ritual was established. This is so the action of the play could unfold and heighten dramatic tension by debasing royalty and interrupting ritual. In fact, the show was directed as a sweep towards chaos, where the constructed hierarchy was torn apart by human emotion. The privacy of the palace at the beginning of the play can no longer contain the events and the final scene erupted into the public world."

"Delivered with all the passion it deserves..." **** The List;

"Powerful production . . . cleverly designed . . . real feeling and intensity . . . excellent performance." **** British Theatre Guide;

"The acting was compelling." **** Three Weeks;

"Pure theatrical gold." Metro.

To read reviews of this production, click here