There is a minute-long stretch during The Other Place when all the actors have vacated the stage, and we are left watching an unpeopled set. And yet this seemingly empty moment pulses with tension and shear theatricality, as do so many other points in this masterful production by auteur, Alexander Zeldin.
The play is billed as “after Antigone.” But Zeldin does not so much update Sophocles’ story as extract the core elements of grief and family disfunction, and then sets his re-constructed tragedy in the present. The first scene is merely two people taciturnly preoccupied with the texting and pinging of their mobile phones. But from this unassuming opening, the story develops into a shocking and challenging evening of unmissable theatre.
Zeldin’s play hinges on the conflict over the location of interred ashes, echoing Antigone’s determination to bury her deceased brother’s ashes in hallowed ground. This time around we follow the machinations of Annie (Emma D’Arcy), who returns to the family home after years of estrangement and insists her father’s ashes remain in the family home. That home is now occupied by her uncle Chris (Tobias Menzies), his family, plus Annie’s sister, Issy (Alison Oliver) who want the ashes scattered and to move on with their lives. Throughout the evening the ashes themselves are decanted, hidden, repacked, and finally dispensed with, in what becomes almost a comedic device.
D’Arcy brilliantly portrays an irascible and unstable Annie who can be both vulnerable and maddingly obstinate. She is banished into staying in the backyard in a tent rather than in her uncle’s house. Menzies as her nemesis uncle, is as headstrong as Annie. He is both brutish, yet we sympathise with his struggle with his intractable niece and his wish to finally dispense with his brother’s ashes and move on with his life. They reveal the guilt of a dark family secret in a moment that is as powerful as it is distressing.
It is a testament to Zeldin’s sharp writing that even in this relatively short play, every character confronts an important moment of realisation, and each handles their revelation in their own unique way. Besides Annie and Chris, there is Chris’s wife, Erica (Nina Sosanya), who moves quickly past what she witnesses even before she will allow it to sink in. Then there is, Terry (Jerry Killick), the soothsayer, Tiresias, character from the original, who is reimagined as a prat of a family friend, who both speaks the truth, and is also completely blind to his own missteps and inappropriate behaviour. Finally, by the end of the play, Issy realises she doesn’t really like her sister.
The stage displays the living room of Erica and Chris’s newly renovated home, as well as the back garden we view through a large glass door where Annie’s tent is erected. The lighting is as effective as the electronic music which underscore the emotional tension of the drama.
There are only a handful of characters who interact on an effect, but modest set. Yet Zeldin packs a huge amount into his drama, and creates a powerful and poignant evening about loss, grief, and the complexity of family relationships.
Until 9 November
Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Written and directed by: Alexander Zeldin
Cast includes: Emma D’Arcy, Alison Oliver, Tobias Menzies, Nina Sosanya.
Set and costume designer: Rosanna Vize
Lighting Designer: James Farncombe
Composer: Yannis Philppakis