Blood of My Father by Darcey Hogan – Edinburgh Festival Fringe Preview

Sophocles’s Electra, reimagined for 2024 as a modern-day thriller. A fast-paced, spiralling sequence of mini-scenes drives the audience to work out who murdered Agamemnon Alexi as it explores contemporary themes of middle class dysfunction, fear of scandal, and the long-term effects of abuse.

The suspicious neighbour heard the screams from next door. A body was found floating in Chiswick River. Two siblings, Orestes and Electra, 16 and 20 years old respectively, never thought they would be interrogated as suspects in their father’s murder. Since they moved in it seems this ordinary middle-class family has been burying lies and secrets and in the light of the head of the household’s murder this
hidden damage is now all under investigation.

Blood of my Father is a dark, twisted, sequence of police interrogations that follows the investigation of Officer Pallas. The abuse of parental power has left two demented children questioning whether they feel safe in their own homes. Who is lying under oath? Will the pressure push them to breaking point? Does the abuse of parental power leave the parents guilty – or their children?

This one-act play is receiving its world premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe. It is written by 16-year-old student Darcey Hogan, and performed by students from the Wellington Theatre Collective.

Cast
Orestes Alexi | Ralph MacFadyen
Electra Alexi | Darcey Hogan
Officer Pallas | Tejus Thorpe
Clytemnestra Alexi | Izzy Harvie
Aegthius | Felix Zamoyski Freitag
Demetra Pathos | Izzy Martin
Ellios Pathos | Barney Venables
Young Orestes | Rufus Pennock
Young Agamemnon | J J McAllister

Directed by | Ashleigh Walter
Produced by | Nick Huntington
Technical and Set Design | Nick Oliver-Duncan
Technical Operation | Leo Wilkin

• Venue21 – C ARTS | C venues | C aquila – temple
• 12:35 – 13:25
• Aug 5-10
• Tickets – Blood of My Father | Theatre | Edinburgh Festival Fringe (edfringe.com)

The company also perform Dionysa from 5-10 August at C aquila at 13:35.

Wellington Theatre Collective is the company name for the talented ensemble of eighteen drama scholars from Wellington College. The play is directed by Ashleigh Walter and produced by Nick Huntington, its Director of Drama whose play Ugly Youth, the company performed at the Fringe in 2019. Wellington Theatre Collective are delighted to be performing in Edinburgh once again.

‘A theatrical triumph in every respect’
★★★★★ BroadwayBaby,com (Ugly Youth, 2019)

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