How Iphigenia in Splott became Welsh-language film Effi o Blaenau

Gary Owen’s one-woman play Iphigenia in Splott, first performed in 2015, has been reworked into a Welsh-language film. The play recasts the mythic Iphigenia as Effie, a young woman drinking vodka from a mug in her dressing gown, and confronts poverty, social inequality and the effects of austerity; a five-star review in 2022 advised: "Everyone should see this." Leisa Gwenllian, a final-year drama student from north Wales who once watched the play from the front row, now gives the film’s breakthrough performance.

Retitled Effi o Blaenau to match Welsh spelling, the adaptation was co-written by Owen and directed by Marc Evans, who moved the setting from Cardiff to Blaenau Ffestiniog. Owen wrote the play in 2014 while living in Splott and drew on neighbours in supported accommodation and his own experience of stretched services.

Wales, Blaenau Ffestiniog

iphigenia, effi, gary owen, leisa gwenllian, marc evans, welsh language, blaenau ffestiniog, cardiff, austerity, supported accommodation