This is the UK premiere of Seamus Heaney’s translation of Antigone and it is as fresh, clear and timeless as anything I have seen. It hits home by being simple, uncluttered and true to the conventions of Greek tragedy, and in the wake of the Iraq war inspires a profound reflection on the nature of power and loyalty, and the mindset of tyrants.
The amphitheatre set emphasises the arena as a place where people are vulnerable, an area of confrontation that the protagonists journey around or circle warily before entering. Inside this ring, Antigone defies her uncle, King Creon, to bury her dead brother - an act with bloody consequences for all. Jodie McNee, straight from drama school, is taut as a bowstring in her every movement and gives a fierce, controlled and shrewdly spare performance as Antigone.
Michael Byrne is a magnificent Creon. His stature and slightly dragging step can make the ruthless tyrant look like a wily, even benign, old man, and his collapse from roaring lion to whimpering father rocking the dead son is riveting to watch. Through the contemporary northern voice and cadences of the Guard, Matthew Rixon demonstrates the versatility of Seamus Heaney’s language, which manages to sound wholly classical and wholly modern.
The chorus sings and intones poetry that incorporates all kinds of influences and echoes so many half-remembered things. The sky “vomits black air” and the streets are hot as a gridiron to the touch - beautiful language and charged with meaning. What a rarity this adaptation is.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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