In Phaedra’s Love, playwright Sarah Kane imagines a world where excess, lust and violence rule. Though Kane’s Hippolytus is bored, promiscuous, slob who has already slept with her daughter, Phaedra’s passion is undaunted. In a play where Ubu Roi meets Quentin Tarantino, the fumblings of this doomed family are as violent and ugly as they are comedic. Kane skewers the royal family, the Church, and the breakdown of the family as she takes us to the final bloody conclusion in this story of ridiculous, shameful love.

One Year Lease presented Phaedra’s Love as part of PHAEDRA x 3, which featured an ensemble of six actors performing three very dadaptations of the myth of Phaedra. From the classical to the raunchy, PHAEDRA x 3 included Ted Hughes’ translation of Racine’s Phedre, Matthew Maguire’s Phaedra, and Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love. PHAEDRA x 3 was created and workshopped during OYL’s summer residency in Greece in the the summer of 2005.