The Ophiolite review – a family at war over patriarch’s dying wishes

2026-02-05 - 06:15

Theatro Technis, London In Philip de Voni’s ambitious debut play, a clash over funeral rites exposes deep divisions in a British-Cypriot extended family Ancient Greek literature teems with contested burials, as someone in Philip de Voni’s drama points out. There is one at the centre of this play, too, about the power struggle and culture clash in a mixed Cypriot-British family after its patriarch dies. In 2009, in Nicosia, Aristeia (Lucy Christofi Christy) insists her late brother be buried in the Cypriot mountains, in a practice that goes back generations. But his British wife, Jennifer (Ruth Lass), demands her late husband’s body be taken to England, as was his dying wish, she claims. So Aristeia’s keen sense of sacred tradition is pitted against Jennifer’s arguments on freedom from a cultural rite that her husband did not value. Both attempt to reel in the younger generation: Jennifer’s daughter, Penelope (Han-Roze Adonis), and Aristeia’s niece, Xenya (Chrisanthi Livadiotis). At Theatro Technis, London, until 22 February Continue reading...