Poor Iphigenia has had more than her fair share of misfortune. First she is sacrificed by her father, then she is subjected to declarations of love from her 'second father', old King Thoas who, no matter how many times she denies him keeps trying to convince her to accept his love. Then comes a young man with a wild look in his eyes who turns out to be her brother, bearing news that not only has their mother killed their father, but also that he has killed their mother in revenge. If that were not enough for Iphigenia, her brother Orestes and friend are captured by Thoas who requests Iphigenia to sacrifice them to the goddess Diana. What should she do? Kill brother and friend, or run away? If the latter, she would seem ungrateful to Thoas for saving her. Either way she would appear at least to be upholding those family values that are - given the family tradition of murdering each other - admirably important to Iphigenia. 
      Her decision is for you to find out. The more pressing issue is whether you should bother to. The problem with Dan Farrelly's translation of Goethe's Under the Curse lies in the quandary of taking part of a story but making a complete piece in itself. What seems to have the potential of an epic is somehow trivialised in this short piece, and it's a tricky task pinpointing why. 
      Performances all-round are generally good. Peter Guinness's Thoas is an appropriate balance of noble and haggard, as any self-respecting king of barbarians should be. Catherine McCormack's Iphigenia is sympathetic if slightly in narrow in emotional repertoire. But particularly noteworthy is Aiden Mcardle as troubled brother Orestes who had me convinced he had just committed an unthinkable act. 
      Perhaps the problem lies in director Joe Hill-Gibbins's decision to make this piece as stark as possible, a minimalist set (designed by Simon Daw and Angela Simpson) and occasional quiet sound effects (Gary Yershon) lay all the pressure on the performance, and it would be nice to have seen more imagination in bringing the sometimes very vivid dialogue to life with more movement, more variety in pace, more spark in the various relationships. It seems that in this case the attempt to unveil the piece's universality through simplicity only serves to dampen its energy.
Peggy Nuttall