Cynical and bored heir-to-the-throne, Hippolytus, is not a fan of the world in which he lives. He sees it as both hypocritical and without morals. He rejects the outside world and instead fills his life with sex, television, masturbation and hamburgers, yet none of this satisfies him. His stepmother, Phaedra, has a burning desire for Hippolytus. When the world-shunning heir also rejects her love, it sparks a chain of events that eventually delivers Hippolytus what he longs for.

Sarah Kane's writing divided and shocked her audiences, but is now considered central to modern European theatre. Phaedra's Love has only been seen once before in the UK; when Kane directed it herself at the Gate.