Antigone

Deep within the structure of the play Antigone, written nearly two-and-a-half millennia ago by the Athenian dramatist Sophocles, there is a debate. The Greeks called this the “agon,” or “argument” of the play, and considered debate one of the cornerstones of a healthy democracy. Theirs was, perhaps, the first in a long line of democracies scattered along the meta-history of “Western” civilization, stretching all the way from Athens to ours.

The debate is a classic one, pitting duty to State versus duty to family. The story begins shortly after the battle of the Seven Against Thebes, in which the two sons of Oedipus, after his abdication, fight for the throne and both are killed. Oedipus’ brother-in-law, Kreon, is next in line, and his first act as new king is to declare that Eteokles be given a hero’s funeral, while Polyneikes’ body be left unburied as punishment for betraying the State.

The debate is: should Antigone obey a political law that she sees as unjust, or take stand against the injustice, even though it surely means her own death? For a body to be left unburied and uncleansed, to rot in the sun and be consumed by carrion, is humiliating enough. But, according to Greek religious law, this also meant that such a fate would leave her brother’s soul in a state of eternal limbo.

In this production, we have attempted to make connections between this ancient debate and modern times. Firstly, I have chosen Anne Carson’s excellent, actorly translation. Secondly, you will see in the design a kind of “time shift,” a melding of the classical and the contemporary, representing the two sides of the debate. They are hopelessly out of step, living in different worlds, and failing to recognize each other’s common humanity. Thirdly, I have cast the chorus, classically played by a group of men, as a single actress.

Thus, the chorus serves as a mediator between the two sides of the debate, and as an extension between the audience and the world of the play. This choice is also the key to understanding the incorporation of media into the production. Ultimately, there is a “failure to mediate” between the two points of view. This failure becomes a metaphor, physically embodied on stage by screens that tell part of the story. Amazingly, the debates that fascinated the ancients can still fascinate us today, and still resonate with factions in contemporary arguments that fail to find common ground.