Review Roundup: THE OTHER PLACE at The Shed

The Shed and The National Theatre is presenting the North American premiere of The Other Place, a new play by Alexander Zeldin (LOVE at Park Avenue Armory; The Confessions; Faith, Hope, and Charity), which takes its inspiration from the story of Antigone.

The Other Place will run for a strictly limited, four-week engagement from January 30 to March 1, 2026, Read reviews for the production below!

Direct from its 2024 run in London at The National Theatre, The Other Place brings its original UK cast to The Shed: Lee Braithwaite (Cowbois), Emma D’Arcy (House of the Dragon), Jerry Killick (The Confessions), and Tobias Menzies (The Crown) with the additions of Lorna Brown (The Witcher) and Ruby Stokes (Lockwood & Co).

The story of The Other Place takes place as two sisters reunite at the family home after a period of estrangement to mark the anniversary of their father’s death. Their uncle is attempting a fresh start, but one of the sisters threatens to shatter this peace, demanding justice for the pain she carries. Guilt, grief, and greed battle it out as the family goes to war over dreams of their future, and visions of their past. Read the reviews for the UK production HERE!

The Other Place premieres with original music by Yannis Philippakis (Foals), set and costume design by Rosanna Vize, lighting design by James Farncombe, sound design by Josh Anio Grigg, casting by Alastair Coomer CDG, movement by Marcin Rudy, and associate direction by Sammy J Glover.

Robert Hofler, The Wrap: “The Other Place” is a far looser adaptation and update. Beyond the too cute name changes — Annie/Antigone, Chris/Creon, Erica/Eurydice and the soothsayer Terry/Tiresias (Jerry Killick) — “The Other Place” plays like an improv exercise in which actors, who are only vaguely familiar with the Sophocles classic, are put on a stage with an urn full of ashes and directed, “To now gives us ‘Antigone.’”

Adam Feldman, Time Out New York: Yet The Other Place, like many other attempts to modernize the Greeks, has a hole where the ancient gods, fates and rituals should be. Compared to Antigone’s insistence on honoring the dead, Annie’s protest has risibly low stakes; just as an Oedipus without oracles is reduced to the story of a preposterously unlikely and monstrous bummer, Antigone without deeply rooted righteous principles is just the story of a mentally ill woman who can’t give up her father’s ghost. Compensatorily, Zeldin fills out the story with a theme of sexual transgression that emerges too suddenly to deliver the neomythic familial drama of, say, A View from the Bridge, and whose denouement is triggered by a stage convention—the coupling of an implausible indiscretion and an inopportune entrance—that is less classical than cliché.

Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: It is not inaccurate to call “The Other Place” taut and tense, a showcase for D’Arcy’s embodiment of stress and Menzie’s eventual explosive expression of guilt, aided by the insistence of Yannis Philippakis’ electronic score and the persistence Josh Anio Grigg’s sound design (which includes endless startling pings from cell phone messages.). But Zeldin’s skill as a director in dramatizing the everyday is on display in the performances of the other cast members, especially Lee Braithwaite as the stepson Leni, who even in his smallest and seemingly most random of movement reveal his place in the hierarchy of the family.

Frank Scheck, New York Stage Review: You can feel playwright Alexander Zeldin’s struggling with his new play “inspired by” by Sophocles’ Antigone. Yes, The Other Place borrows an important plot element from that ancient Greek tragedy, namely a conflict revolving around the conflict over where to place someone’s remains. And just to keep us on our toes, it throws in another significant narrative device from Sophocles, one that won’t be revealed here. Ultimately, however, The Other Place feels like yet another dysfunctional family drama, albeit one blown up to semi-mystical proportions. None of it feels particularly convincing, but thanks to the superb performances and the playwright’s riveting staging you’re mesmerized for every one of its concise 80 minutes.

Average Rating: 60.0%