The Other Place is a great example of bold and confronting storytelling. It reminds us of the very reason why theatre exists to not only elicit a reaction from the audience but for a collective reaction that we navigate over the course of 80 minutes.
Alexander Zeldin’s play, The Other Place, is described as being “after Antigone by Sophocles.” Don’t go into this play looking for a modern adaptation of Antigone. Rather, he’s taken what he considers the essential elements of the play; grief, family loyalty, patriarchy, the lingering spectre of incest. The characters names play homage to the original so Antigone becomes Anna and King Creon becomes Chris etc. The set design also helps with continuing the link with the ancient story – the new sliding doors act as a physical symbol of banishment/exile.
In this play it is Chris who wants to scatter his dead brother’s ashes but Anna is set against it.
There are shocking moments that drew gasps from the audience and both Tobias Menzies and Emma D’Arcy really deliver in THAT scene. It’s why live theatre cannot be replicated: it’s almost as if the audience’s reaction acts as a dare to push their performance, especially the physicality, to further extremes.
The character of Terry felt redundant – it felt like a device to punctuate the darkness of the material with an obvious laugh. Also, the wife character, Erica, felt liked a missed opportunity. The character felt muted and not really fully developed. Seeing a Black female actor not being given the opportunity to really have a moment left me sad. Why show a clearly blended family and then not allow her heritage to form part of the conversation. I felt the character’s reactions to situations didn’t ring true, it was as if these were mirroring how the playwright would react rather than the character on stage.
The Other Place run at the National Theatre, London will end on 9 November 2024.
