ANTIGONE. To 8 November.
Manchester.
ANTIGONE
by Sophocles translated by Don Taylor.
Royal Exchange Theatre To 8 November2008.
Mon-Fri 7.30pm Sat 8pm Mat Wed 2.30pm & Sat 4pm.
Audio-described 25 Oct 4pm.
BSL Signed 1 Nov 4pm.
Post-show Discussion 6 Nov.
Runs 1hr 45min No interval.
TICKETS: 0162 833 9833.
www.royalexchage.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 October.
Strong elements in an elemental tragedy.
In their tragedies, the Greeks tussled with the conflict between aspiration and experience, between creation and death, before going on, after three hefty slice of Antigone and its like, to send the lot up in a satyr play. It’s as if they’d recognised you have to laugh or you’d cry all the time.
It makes the question of how to play Greek Tragedy nowadays difficult. Do you assimilate the poetry, Chorus and myth towards realism, make modern parallels, or go for a stylised, operatic experience? The masks, music, dance and costumes were practical for large open-air theatres, but undoubtedly also served to emphasise the non-realistic remoteness of the kings and gods on stage.
Don Taylor’s English version, harking back to the days when dictators had been ravaging Europe, suggests Creon is a tyrant. Despite an audience encouraged to become a cheering crowd at his first appearance, Ian Redford more convincingly shows a politician’s logic that puts state before individuals. It’s this that’s defeated when he cracks, his smart suit worn all awry, as his family destroys itself.
Who could rule the ill-fated Thebes in the face of his niece Antigone’s moral absolutes? Matti Houghton mooches onto the cracked earth of Laurie Dennett’s harsh, dry set, arriving first for a meeting where she tells her sister she plans to bury the brother Creon’s decreed shall lie exposed in disgrace.
Houghton’s Antigone is girlish in her bare arms and long, loose hair – her sister arrives hurrying, tightly bound in her coat. Houghton’s like a school prefect, urging her certainty with a polite vehemence that can conceive no other viewpoint.
It’s the Chorus that’s less successfully handled. Caught between its individual, realistic commentators and the stylised dancing Man (an individual man? A representative of mankind? Or of male identity – the most successful sequence comes as he’s joined by a female figure?).
Arun Ghosh provides a fine score, including minimal suggestiveness and pounding four-square phrases. But director Greg Hersov doesn’t find a way to make the musical intrusions integral to a production that has strong elements without binding them into a stylistically coherent whole.
Antigone: Matti Houghton.
Ismene: Claire Cordier.
Man: Nicholas Cass-Beggs.
Creon: Ian Redford.
Soldier: Andrew Sheridan.
Haemon: Ben Addis.
Boy: Bysshe Harkavy/Joseph Merino.
Teiresias: John Watts.
Messenger: Jonathan Keeble.
Eurydice: Alexandra Mathie.
Director: Greg Hersov.
Designer: Laurie Dennett.
Lighting: Robert Bryan.
Sound: Steve Brown.
Composer: Arun Ghosh.
Choreographer: Mark Bruce.
Assistant director: Ben Fowler.
2008-10-25 12:09:13