This modern version of Antigone —written in 441 B.C. by the Greek dramatist Sophocles and translated and transformed into a new version by the MacArthur Fellow, poet, classicist and playwright Anne Carson — is a tragic morality tale. It opened on Nov. 15 at the Josephine Louis Theater at the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Arts Circle Drive, on Northwestern’s campus.
Third play in Sophocles’ triad
If you are looking for an upbeat, happy entertainment experience, look elsewhere. (Those familiar with the main themes of Sophocles’ three classic tales know that to be true.)
Here, the director, Tae-Heum Yeon, created a spare, intense play transformed by Korean shamanistic aesthetics. It also includes Korean dance, song and costumes. This highlights the universality of Antigone, adaptable to any geographical environment or time period. The dialogue is gripping and filled with contemporary phrasing.
Antigone forces us to consider how we would respond to a similar situation. (Perhaps not literally, but conceptually.) Which rules, if any, do we follow? What happens when one’s state and religious beliefs differ? Do genetics and family ties determine our destiny? What is a woman’s role?
Yeon believes the two main characters are “trapped by their own fatal flaws.” In the director’s note, he says, “Both are constrained by inherited ideologies that lead them to make tragic, irreversible decisions.”
Antigone makes a decision
As the play begins, Antigone’s parents/grandparents Oedipus and Jacosta are dead. Her brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, recently killed one another in battle. Her paternal uncle Kreon (Augustus Glick, terrific and convincing) rules Thebes. He decrees that Eteocles will have a state funeral. Kreon wants Polynices’ body to be left outside the city on a hillside, unattended, uncovered and unburied. His flesh will be picked at by flesh-eating dogs and wild birds. Kreon orders death for anyone who disobeys him.
Antigone (Arwen-Vira Marsh, absolutely luminous) schemes to bury her brother. She has no time for Ismene’s (Mia El-Yafi, excellent) pleas to follow the law. Antigone knowingly risks arrest and death by attempting to bury her brother.
Later in the play she is asked if she would do this same for a husband or child. She would not. Husbands and children are replaceable, but siblings are not. She owes her brother this last rite. She is stubborn and unyielding but determined to do the honorable thing.
Kreon holds firm
Kreon believes he is smarter than all his advisers. Kreon’s son, Haimon (Bryson Shaub, terrific and poignant) tries to counsel him. The prophet Teiresias (Rachel Weintraub, wonderful and convincing) talks to Kreon.
Resolute, Kreon believes that he must carry through his decree and see that Antigone dies. His pride will not allow him to pardon Antigone. Antigone’s actions threaten his masculinity. Additionally, Antigone is Haimon’s fiancée. (They are cousins, too.)
Kreon speaks to Antigone (mid-speech), “This girl knew her act was criminal / when she broke the law that I decreed / criminal insulting and wrong the first time / wrong all the more the second time / and she boasts of it she laughs / surely I am not a man here / she is the man / if she wins this trick and walks away.”
Teiresias tries to drill reason into Kreon, telling him, “you bring this sickness on the city /….my child, take heed / to err is human but to persist in error is imprudent unlucky and just stupid.” Later, the prophet says, “alas / isn’t anyone listening / doesn’t anyone get it” Kreon replies, “get what” and Teiresias says, “good judgment good judgment nothing is more important.”
Awareness comes too late
There are no happy endings here. Kreon belatedly realizes how wrong he was. But his self-awareness and wisdom come too late to be of any use. Antigone, Haimon and his wife, Eurydike (Alexis Diaz-Waterman, lovely), are dead of self-inflicted wounds. The play ends with Kreon bemoaning his self-created fate.
Kudos to the chorus and talented production team, in particular the Korean dance choreographers (Ae Deok Lee and Ju Yeun Chae) and costume designer (Gin Ko).
The play runs through Nov. 24. There are free talkbacks between the cast and audience after the shows on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 21-22. Run time is two hours with a 15-minute intermission. The show contains adult themes (incest, violence, suicide) and it may not be suitable for children.
The Wirtz Center Box Office is located in the Barber Theater lobby at 30 Arts Circle Drive and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The box office is not open on Sunday and Monday.
Editor’s note: This review has updated to correctly note the role played by Rachel Weintraub.
‘Antigone’ at Northwestern is a morality play for any time is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.