Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

A sex farce reminiscent of Alan Clark’s diaries: Phaedra, at the Lyttelton Theatre, reviewed

Plus: no one at Hampstead Theatre seems to know how to shape and edit a playscript

Moroccan lecher Sofiane (Assaad Bouab) and sex-starved Labour MP Helen (Janet McTeer) in Phaedra at the National Theatre. Photo: Johan Persson  
issue 18 February 2023

Simon Stone claims that his new comedy, Phaedra, draws on the work of Euripides, Seneca and Racine. In fact, the porn-mag narrative resembles a passage in Alan Clark’s diaries where the priapic scribbler seduces a mother and daughter in rapid succession. That’s what happens to Sofiane, a homeless Moroccan lecher, aged 41, who has the looks of George Best and the sexy drawl of a Riviera gigolo.

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