Triptych and Iphigenia: Two Plays

by Edna O'Brien

Three women (mistress, wife, and daughter) uncover their passion for the same man and confront the ways that love can simultaneously liberate and entrap. This lyrical and captivating drama weaves together their stories to construct the portrait of a man through the eyes of the women who love him.

112 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 2005

About the author

Edna O’Brien was an award-winning Irish author of novels, plays, and short stories. She has been hailed as one of the greatest chroniclers of the female experience in the twentieth century. She was the 2011 recipient of the Frank O’Connor Prize, awarded for her short story collection Saints and Sinners. She also received, among other honors, the Irish PEN Award for Literature, the Ulysses Medal from University College Dublin, and a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Literary Academy. Her 1960 debut novel, The Country Girls, was banned in her native Ireland for its groundbreaking depictions of female sexuality. Notable works also include August Is a Wicked Month (1965), A Pagan Place (1970), Lantern Slides (1990), and The Light of Evening (2006). O’Brien lived in London until her death.

Reviews

[Asae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very visual and startling. Though both pieces are in dialogue with titans of theatre - Shakespeare, the Greeks - they owe as much to the poetry of Sylvia Plath as they do to these dramatists. I'd definitely want to see both these plays.

[Ken French · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as her novels. Choppy and lacking the rich description she usually uses.