Antigone

Synopsis

Two brothers, Polyneikes and Eteocles, fight for the crown of Thebes. They kill each other. The rule is strict and clear: whoever dares to bury Polyneikes will be punished with death. Antigone cannot accept the laws that leave one of her brothers unburied and humiliated. State against Ideals, a young woman against a monarch, the whole town, us, inside the arena. How do you get a diamond out of a stone? 'I was born to love, not hate', states Antigone. And there is always a cost for it.

Our Review:

23 May 2011

Tom Littler’s Primavera production of the play is both compelling and credible. The simple, stark compound setting within the vaults of the Southwark Playhouse, which sets the conflict in the Middle East of today, allows Timberlake Wertenbaker’s poetic translation to reflect and resonate the epic themes of the past as well as to explore the current clashes of a patriarchal society where personal loyalties and family ties are confronted by local laws that contradict and countermand free choice.

Antigone, ill fated daughter of Oedipus, is torn by filial love, duty and honour to bury her brother who has been declared a traitor and persona non grata, denied the rites of burial and with a death warrant for anyone carrying out those rites. Whereas her sister Ismene feels constrained by her femininity and by the laws of the city, Antigone feels that as they are not those of the Gods but those of man so they can therefore be disobeyed.

Jamie Glover’...

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Latest User Review

Gouther - 18 June 2011:

A very accessible production of Sophocles' classic, whose timelessness is illuminated by judiciously-employed contemporary allusions, enlivened with Levantine dancing and choral singing....

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