A searing tale of love, power, and the greater good from Ancient Greece, in an acclaimed play written by Jean Anouilh and first performed in Nazi occupied Paris in 1944. Anouilh posed questions which still challenge us today, and for which there are no easy answers. Antigone is the story of a young woman who refuses to compromise her freedom when she finds herself pitted against King Creon, a ruler who has no choice but to uphold law and order over family love. It is a play which can divide audiences as sympathies are first pulled in one direction, than another.
Jean Anouilh’s Antigone is a classic European drama, performed here in an English translation. It was originally staged in 1944 in Paris, at the time occupied by troops from Nazi Germany. The occupying army allowed Anouilh to stage his play; possibly for them it was an argument for strong rule, total domination and swift retribution for trouble makers.
Anouilh used the Greek tale to explore the world he was living in, crucially making Antigone’s defiant act less about avenging her brother and more about her rebellion against oppressive rule.
“I will not be moderate. I will not be satisfied with the little bit of cake you offer me if I am a good little girl”
Janet Bolam, Director, finds it fascinating that viewed through our modern eyes Antigone presents a more complex dilemma. “Antigone no longer holds the undisputed high ground, and some light is thrown on the dilemmas that face Creon. The situation gains in interest when the argument is not in black and white”.
Is Antigone a freedom fighter or a terrorist, a troublesome hunger striker or a justified martyr, a suicide bomber or a young woman driven to understandable sacrifice against unbearable oppression? |
