There have been several variations of Phaedra written by Roman philosopher and dramatist Lucius Annaeus Senaca in the early A.D. years. In Seneca’s version (based on Greek mythology and the tragedy of Hippolytus by Euripides), Phaedra is the wife of King Theseus of Athens who has a consuming lust for her stepson (Hippolytus). 

Writer-director Simon Stone has re-imagined Phaedra in the modern day. Like Racine’s Renaissance spin on it, Stone’s reworking is, “a response to the world [we’re] living in now”. Phaedra is Helen (Janet McTeer), a wealthy British M.P. married to Hugo (Paul Chahidi) with two kids, a London bolt hole, country pad and Comté on tap. When Sofiane (Assaad Bouab), the son of her former, dead, Moroccan lover reappears after 30 years, lust and desire to hark back to the past takes over and threatens to destroy everything she has built. 

Set inside a rotating glass box with black window bars (designed by Chloe Lambert), we are voyeurs to the action. Beginning in the family’s London abode in an open plan kitchen/diner/living room (exactly the kind of place we’d expect to see these characters), as the box turns, we are transported into the bedroom. Each set is highly stylised and so the changes call for drawn out breaks between scenes, filled with darkness, arresting music and spoken dialogue also projected in text on a black screen. It’s visually impressive, but not always necessary to the plot. The glass box is most effective in the last scene when Helen frenetically circles it (as it rotates) on a snowy mountain, through the mist. The hazy lighting by James Francombe, coupled with McTeer pressing up against the glass, creates drama. 

The performances are all superb. The statuesque McTeer is imposing as Helen. As her egocentricity grows as much as her obsession with Sofiane, we understand her joy even though we detest the lack of regard for her family. 

Paul Chahidi is comical as Helen’s husband Hugo, especially in his Lycra jogging gear. A successful guy himself, he accepts that his wife is more impressive and attractive than him and goes along with the introduction of Sofiane into their lives, even when he knows it will open old wounds that have cast a shadow over their marriage. Mackenzie Davies is impressive in her stage debut, playing Isolde (the grown up daughter of Hugo and Helen) as contradictorily awkward yet confident. John MacMillan’s comic timing as the pink haired, charity executive Ben (Isolde’s husband, who everyone likes more than her) is superb. He’s so self-righteous that we see why Isolde falls for the beguiling Sofiane.  Bouab’s Sofiane is softly spoken for the most part and played with such sensitivity that we recognise he is damaged and complicated but at the same time, he is so disarmingly charming, that all the fuss over him is entirely plausible.  

Performances aside, this is a mixed bag. As the pace of the play picks up, it veers from satire to tragedy to absurd melodrama. Nearly all of the characters are unlikeable and self-absorbed, making for seething and funny dialogue. Entertaining? Yes. But the message is sometimes confused. Still, we’d recommend it for the acting and stunning visuals. 

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Victoria Willetts

Phaedra plays at the National Theatre until 8 April, with further information here.