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Antigone, first produced in Paris in 1944, ticks many boxes for a satisfying outing to the theatre. Plenty of death, angst (it's a Greek Tragedy after all),
some excellent roles for women, a bit of smoochy stuff (not too much, because it's Tragedy) and it's short! So I settled down with pleasure to watch this on the
Saturday matinee.
I wasn't disappointed. This was a tight and pacy production, well staged in the rather challenging space that is Theatro Technis, engaging the audience in
the dreadful events that unfold. I don't know if it's the convention to play the piece without an interval, but it seemed a good decision to me.
The show rattled along - moving inexorably and relentlessly towards the dramatic conclusion.
It's a deceptively simple story - with complex characters. Antigone wants a respectable burial for her brother Polynices, who has been killed along with her
other brother Eteocles as they battle over who will rule Thebes. With both brothers dead, Antigone's uncle, Creon, assumes rule and decrees that Eteocles
will be buried with full military honour but that Polynices will not be buried or mourned. Antigone defies her uncle and attempts to bury Polynices herself.
She is caught and - despite Creon's attempt to reason with her - she continues with her mission. She is locked in a tomb where she hangs herself.
Haemon, her fiancé and Creon's son, kills himself when he discovers Antigone's body. Creon's wife and Haemon's mother also kills herself on
discovering her son's death. So - as might be expected in a family where there's a terrible history of slaughter and incest (Antigone's father was Oedipus) -
it really doesn't end that well for anyone.
There were some excellent performances to savour. Outstanding (as always) was Simon Lee as Creon. Trying so hard to do the right thing with the least amount of
bloodshed he engaged our sympathy and support from the outset. His final scene of stiff-upper-lip stoicism, as the body count of his loved ones rises, was
truly moving.
Sarah Assaf was very good as Antigone. A thoughtful performance with some striking touches of drama. As the central character, she was strong as the
pivotal and unwaveringly principled title role around which the other characters orbit. Ciara Robley as Ismene was suitably emotional, but occasionally
difficult to hear as she delivered her lines with intensity. Jacob Brook was very princely as Haemon, giving a strong performance as the love interest
- even though he doesn't get a whole lot of stage time. Alison Liney, as always, was entirely convincing as the Nurse.
Hannah West as the Chorus, did a great job of moving the action along with authority - performing her lines with great energy and vigour. Occasionally
I felt her delivery could have been more varied but she was definitely in control.
Soldiers/guards gave solid performances and were a helpfully normalising influence as the horror unfolded and the corpses stacked up. There are
no small parts, only small actors as we say in theatre - and there were definitely no small actors in this production. The cast were a
solid team and all contributed to the success of the piece.
Max Batty's set worked well. I had my doubts about the layer of bark on the stage to begin with (I had also heard that in the earlier performances it had been
dangerously slippery), but it was brilliant in suggesting the central theme of earth and burial. Also the outside wildness creeping inside
to overturn the civilization that Creon has worked so hard to create and uphold. It was a simple idea - but extremely evocative and thoughtfully lit by Adam Taylor.
The modern costumes worked well within the piece - helping us to see that the themes of rebellion, power struggles and the difficulty of doing the right thing are
timeless ones (even if the actual events depicted are extreme).
Although Anouilh denied that his retelling of the Antigone story was a comment on the Vichy regime (he was not involved with the Resistance),
the parallels are clear - and the original production must have made for uncomfortable viewing.
It's still a play where you want to shout "No! Don't do it!" a lot of the time, but it was a thoroughly engaging 90 minutes worth of theatre.
And a fitting finale to the Tower Theatre Company's performance life at Theatro Technis.
Photography by Robert Piwko
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