This is a play with a self-conscious literary and historical past. In his programme note, author Philip de Voni acknowledges a debt to both the Antigone and Hamlet, and themes from both are woven through the evening. The duty of traditional burial ceremony for a brother looms large in the first half, and in the second Hamlet’s line ‘More than kin and less than kind’ was running continually as a banner through my mind.
Staged in traverse on a series of levels, with steps and minimal furnishings, the play strikes a good balance in its early stages between dramatic tension and mythological backcloth. There is a compelling narrative that develops out of an internecine family dispute. The action begins after the death of a Greek Cypriot who married an Englishwoman in the 1970s and moved to London permanently. His sister wants his body reburied in the family plot in the mountains. However, this requires the permission of his widow, who will not consider it. A plot to hoodwink her into agreeing goes awry, and the first half ends in a scene of memorable confrontation and recrimination in which personal and cultural clashes combine.
The second half is less convincing, in part because it introduces too many fresh themes that lack prior integration into the dramatic texture. Six years have passed, and the widow has remarried and is sick. The focus shifts towards her daughter, a minor character until the major row before the interval. She is the ‘ophiolite’ of the title: just as a geological layer is transformed under intolerable pressure into a different form and mineral composition, so she too is torn between her Cypriot and English identities and transformed into someone different from either. Unfortunately, this congestion of themes and priorities is too heavy a weight for the character to bear and the actor to convey credibly.
The stand-out performance is Ruth Lass in the hugely demanding role of Jennifer. Fearless and fearsome for truth, she is a force of nature, and like such forces brings as much damage as change along with her. But in the later scenes, particularly with her second husband, a gentler side emerges which gives us clues as to the reasons for and cost of that tough outer shell. As I have indicated, the role of the daughter is over-exposed and insufficiently grounded in the textures of the play, and therefore it is a hard ask for Han-Roze Adonis to shape a coherent, overarching interpretation. But even so there is rather too much one-note resentment in the later scenes that needs lifting with a greater tonal variety.
There are some excellent supporting characterisations: in particular, I would highlight the glowering ancestral resentments expressed by Lucy Christofi Christy in the role of Aunt Aristeia, and a superbly rounded cameo from Bea Svistunenko, as a sleek and worldly-wise Russian émigré on the make. Sam Cox also makes the most of the mainly reactive role of Dominic, the second husband, especially when he finally pushes back against the emotional bulldozing of Jennifer.
If the intended symbolic weight and dramatic complexity of the play does not always gel as it should, there are still several memorable scenes and effective characterisations along the way, across what is always a thought-provoking and carefully layered evening.
Philip de Voni
Director: Kerry Kyriacos Michael
Cast: Han-Roze Adonis, Lucy Christofi Christy, Sam Cox, Ruth Lass, Crisanthi Livadiotis, Bea Svistunenko, Fanos Xenofos
Until 22 February 2026
2 hrs 20 mins, with interval
Photo Credit: Andreas Lambis