CityLife

Antigone

Matti Houghton in Antigone

SOPHOCLES wrote Antigone something like two and a half thousand years ago.

The very fact that it is still being performed today and not simply dismissed as a museum piece speaks volumes about the enduring impact of great art.

Greg Hersov’s version, from a clear translation by Don Taylor, energetically explores the central themes of the play – the relationship between individuals and society, family and the state, honour and duty, and politics and religion – and emphasizes their continuing relevance.

Not only are the actors in modern dress but Matti Houston’s performance in the title role is, so far as possible within the classical confines of the play, that of a modern young woman.

As proceedings begin, Antigone’s two brothers Eteocles and Poynices have slain each other in a ferocious and bloody battle for the city of Thebes.

As a result Creon (a predictably powerful performance by the veteran Ian Redford) has come to power and decreed that, while Eteocles will be buried with full military honours, the body of Polynices should be left to left to rot outside the city’s gates.

Dishonoured

Antigone, though, defies him – how could she let one brother be so dishonoured? – and buries Polynices.

Thus, she is in direct confrontation with the stability and even the continued existence of the state, or at least so Creon argues, and must be put to death.

There’s no doubt that this is dark material that can’t be lightened even by the crowd-pleasing jokiness of the delivery of the bad news to Creon.

Nor does Hersov really solve the problem of what to do about the choral odes which punctuate the action.

Nicholas Cass-Beggs’ dramatic dance pieces neither contribute to the narrative nor add atmosphere to a piece which otherwise is compelling throughout its one hour and forty minute-long performance.

Antigone is at the Royal Exchange until Saturday, November 8. Call 0161 833 9833.

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