Productions Online
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A July, 2002, Google search for Antigone matched with production,
staging, costume, and lighting produced dozens of pages of
hits. The following selections are from the first 6 pages of links, but
reports of many other interesting productions abound. For instance, on page 25
of these search results was listed a link to the Antigone that starred
actress Mira Furlan, who became famous to American audiences as Delenn on Babylon
5.
The
riskiest aspect of
the
USC production of Antigone in 2002 is the use of real-time video of
the play being shown on one or more of five large screens from a feed off a
hand-held camera. One of the more interesting aspects is using one or more
of those same screens to show a pre-recording staging of the "desert
scene" at a silica plant; only sand and sky show behind the actors,
apparently.
Costume and set should suggest a modern Middle Eastern country
rather than ancient Greece to heighten the clash of religious traditions and
modern mores of society, as well as the status of women.
Directed by Jay Berkow, the production starred Master of Fine
Arts students Marcie Kearns as Antigone, Jackie Coleman as Ismene (both shown in
photo above) and Michael Kroeker as Creon.
LaLumiere School
in Illinois produced Antigone in 2002. The web page contains
clickable thumbnails to access stills showing cast and set. Another 2002
Illinois production gets a
blast from the reviewer for using women in the chorus, playing Creon beyond
out of control, and too much recitation rather than conversing when delivering
lines. The reviewer also didn't appreciate actually seeing Antigone
hang herself and having other violent acts pantomimed as the messenger reported
them.
The
Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Mass., home of the American Repertory Theater,
did a production of Antigone in
2000-2001. The website is
exceptionally complete, with links to bios of cast members, production stills,
and notes on the play. See, in particular, the analytical background and summary
notes of Mary Lefkowitz, entitled The
Price of Honor, as well as the interview with translator Robert Fagles on Giving
Voice to Antigone. Program notes include a
biography and photo of Sophocles as depicted by a Roman, Walter Valeri's
essay Suicide and
Democracy, which portrays Antigone's suicide as an act of defiance against
Creon's judgment. See also the family
tree of Antigone.
Was Creon a fascist? The
College of the Albemarle (North Carolina) production of
Antigone in October, 2001, makes it look like he was an elegant
fascist. The main characters were clad in evening clothes, while the
guards wore uniforms reminiscent of a different "reich" than Creon's.
Togas they are not. (See the Bushey
Grammar School production of 1957 (right photo) for similar costuming.)
Henley
College's 2001 outdoor production of Antigone is depicted at a rather
complete website. If you can get past the bloody photo on the cover page,
click through the Gallery
to see stills from the production and production notes. (Photo: From the
Gallery, Ismene [Gemma McMullen] is urged by Antigone [Vicky Smith] to help her
tend to her brother's burial. Photograph from
Antigone, directed by Nic Saunders, Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire. Used by
permission of Nic Saunders.)
Avery
Brooks starred in a production of Oedipus Rex that was part of a
performance of the
entire trilogy in one night at the Kennedy Center in 2001. This
production set the stories in Africa (which isn't too far from the mark, since
the Egyptian Thebes is the origin of the story of this family that existed as
folk tales in Greece before Sophocles dramatized them). [Scroll down to
the photo for the accompanying write-up, mostly praising Brooks'
performance.]
The
University of Utah's 31st Classical Greek Theater Festival included a production
of Antigone, which starred Jennifer Clark in the title role
and Lloyd Mulvey as Kreon in 2001.
UNC
Charlotte adapted the play to the setting of the American Civil War in a
2001 production, but with modern speech rather than that of the 1800s.
Old
Dominion University's opulent theatrical production in 2000 looks rich in
colors and textures in these production stills, as well as bold in casting and
blocking. See, for instance, the casting of Tiresias and the entrances to
the stage.
The
Thunder River Theater Company presentation of Antigone in Carbondale put the chorus
on the 24-hour news channel for Thebes to set them as commentators on the
action, as well as eyewitnesses.
Crooked
House Theater Company did a production "primarily for secondary
schools" in Spring, 2000, in County Kildare, Ireland, plus 3 nights of
production at the county courthouse. (Photo: Yvonne O'Hara as Antigone)
Shimer College, partially supported by the Illinois Humanities Council, produced
a study guide and stage Sophocles' Antigone in 1999, following up with a
lecture and productions of Antigone by Bertolt Brecht and by Jean Anouilh
in 2000 during The Antigone
Project.
Western Illinois
University's Studio Theater produced Antigone in 1999. This
website, maintained at Geocities (two clicks to get rid of sidebar ads that open
atop every page), is a six-web-page portfolio of costume and set design.
Furman
Theater Company at Furman College used a webcam during production in
February, 1999, to capture images of their Antigone production.
(Photo: Kevin Treu as Teresias and Sara Justice as the child who guides him)
Forbidden Theater in the UK did
a production in 1998 based on a new translation by Gwynne Edwards.
Tiresias was played by a woman. (Photo detail is from a photo by Camilla Watson
of Ulrika Hellstrom as Antigone.)
A 1998
Navajo production with the Doane College Theater Department was done in Lincoln,
Nebraska.
Read
about a 1998
production that depicted a
"prehistoric" setting with set, lighting, and costume. Read production notes on costuming with 4
large illustrations.
Didiskalia
3.1 (Summer 1996) contains a
review by Liz Roberts of a production in New South Wales; no photos are
included, but commentary focuses on the acting and selected aspects of
production with a relatively naturalistic set, reminiscent of modern Sarajevo.
How not to
produce Antigone in 1991.
VCCS Litonline
