The Other Place ★★★ National Theatre | Until November 9, 2024


Alexander Zeldin's The Other Place is loosely based on Sophocles' Antigone. In this version, Annie, a troubled young woman with a history of mental illness, returns to her family for the scattering of her father's ashes. The ritual has been organised by her uncle, Chris, who has inherited, and is now renovating, the family home. Annie, unlike her sister Issy, objects to Chris' decision to deal with the patriarch's remains in the way he has chosen. A squabble ensues and secrets about Chris and Annie's relationship are revealed. With any modernisation of a classic, the danger is always that the epic nature of the original will be lost in the mundane. Here, many of Sophocles' themes, such as the tensions between law and loyalty, or the rightful, perhaps arbitrary, power of the state as opposed to an individual's sense of duty, are lost in the dynamics of a domestic drama. These larger issues absent, the question then becomes how much would we care about these individuals if they weren't wrapped in the mantles of their classical prototypes. Unfortunately, the answer is not a great deal, as Zeldin's characters are not very nuanced. They behave like larger-than-life tragic figures, but their situation, while occasionally shocking, seems rather prosaic and their development is minimal. Emma D'Arcy as Annie and Tobias Menzies as Chris both create strong presences, and the tension between them is palpable. Their scenes together are powerful and disturbingly credible. Jerry Killick is excellent as the lecherous layabout, Terry, and he creates some nice comic moments. Rosanna Vize's set is clever, and the use of glass sliding doors as a mirror and a division between the internal and external worlds works beautifully. While James Farncombe's lighting is nicely evocative, the introduction of sound effects at various points distracts from, rather than underlines, the tension being created. They seem an unnecessary addition to the narrative. In the end, The Other Place is an interesting contemporary riff on a classic that receives a notable production by the National Theatre.

Rated: ★★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Sarah Lee

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