The Burial at Thebes Sophocles Antigone, translated by Seamus Heaney Education Resource Pack Created by Sarah Stephenson sarahs@nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk This play is especially suitable for KS4 and 5 English, Theatre Studies, Drama and Performing Arts. Contents Synopsis, cast and production team lists, themes. Background information: Who is Antigone?, the Underworld, the sequel that was written first, meet the author, location glossary. Set design. Interviews with Abby Ford, Antigone and Lucy Pitman-Wallace, director. Pre and post show student activities: Get writing, Get talking, Get active, and Get creative. Script extracts Photos of the cast in rehearsals.
Synopsis Antigone s brother lies where he fell in a rebellion against the authorities. Her uncle, King Creon, outlaws his burial. Antigone s appalling dilemma is whether to obey Creon and offend against the gods, or follow her heart and plunge her accursed family into a fresh cycle of violence by burying her brother. Production team Director: Assistant Director: Designer: Lighting Designer: Composer: Movement Director: Voice coach: Lucy Pitman Wallace Zoë Waterman Jessica Curtis Jenny Kagan Mick Sands Jackie Matthews Neil Swain Cast Paul Bentall: Mick Sands: Abby Ford: Richard Evans: Sam Swainsbury: Sian Clifford: Cymon Allen: Joan Moon: David Acton: David Hobbs: Creon Chorus Antigone/Chorus Tiresias/Chorus Haemon/Chorus Ismene/Chorus Messenger/Chorus Eurydice/Chorus Guard/Chorus Chorus Themes Authority and power Family ties Betrayal Taking a risk The Gods Premonitions Love Role of women
Who is Antigone? Antigone is the youngest daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. She appears in Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus, and his Antigone, Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes, and Euripides' The Phoenician Women. Her name means one who is of the opposite opinion. And, in Sophocles' Antigone, her difference of opinion with her uncle, King Creon, is the catalyst around which the play's ultimate tragedy evolves. For Heaney, Antigone's grief turns to outrage. She asks her sister, "What's to become of us?" The question has the hint of hopelessness, but her subsequent actions prove that she is anything but helpless. She takes the law in her own hands, defying her uncle and risking the penalty of death. She writes her own future by her actions, moving towards her inevitable end refusing to bow to fear or tears. http//classiclit.about.com/od/antigonesophocles/fr/aafpr-burial.htm The Underworld According to Homeric belief, when a person died, his or her vital breath or psyche left the body to enter the underworld, ruled by Hades, king of the dead. However it was only granted entrance once the body had been given the proper burial rites. www.museum.upenn.edu/greek_world The sequel that was written first Sophocles wrote Antigone in 441BC the same year in which he was elected general and probably wrote Oedipus the King in about 425 BC (the plague at the beginning would have reminded the Athenians of the terrible plague that they had endured in 431BC, which had killed their leader Pericles, Sophocles' friend). Thus, although Antigone tells some of the story of what happened next, it was not actually intended to be a sequel. For example, Creon in Antigone is a very different character from Creon in Oedipus. Meet the author Seamus Heaney Irish poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. According to Heaney, poetry balances the "scales of reality towards some transcendent equilibrium". From the early collections, Heaney has combined in his work personal memories with images of Irish heritage and the landscape of Northern Ireland. There are also references to English/Irish and Catholic/Protestant conflict. However, Heaney's view is much more visionary and allegorical than bound to contemporary issues. www.kirjas.sci.fi/heaey/html
Location Glossary Argos: Situated in North East Peloponneese. The second oldest city in Greece. Delphi: Sited on the south slope of Mount Parnassos. The site of the Omphalos stone. Mount Sipylus: Mountain northeast of Symrna in Lydea (now Turkey) Olympus: The highest mountain in Greece. Nobody can be sure they are right all the time. Haemon.
Set design by Jessica Curtis Eight points about the design: 1. The end sections of the set can be removed for the purpose of touring to smaller venues. 2. The idea behind the set is that it is timeless as the script feels incredibly modern at times. The wall could exist in a modern bombed out building or an ancient Greek structure. 3. The black circle area on the floor is for the duologues to take place. 4. The walls are designed to feel like they are trapping people inside. The holes will be lit from behind so that light spills through them. 5. The dark canvas behind sets the atmosphere and landscape but it is also lit to express the emotions that are on the stage. 6. There are small blocks that can be seats or standing places. 7. The cast put on cloaks when they become the chorus members and remove them to reveal their character costumes underneath. 8. The only props are a silver bowl, a stick and a blindfold.
Interview with Abby Ford, Antigone What drew your interest to the role of Antigone? I hadn t performed Greek tragedy before or attempted anything as epic as this. It is also a great challenge for me to take on a character that experiences events so different to anything I have personally experienced. This is my fourth time working with Lucy, she s great director. I like the fact that the show has song and movement in it as well. I was excited by the modern version by Heaney. The language is poetic and yet stripped bare the language allows you to take it anywhere you want. How are you making the role relevant to the audience of today? War is not on our doorstep in this country but it is in the world today. People do lose their fathers, brothers, homes we live in a privileged society. In the play, the society lives by their religion, it s a part of their every day life; that has a current link with today s suicide bombers. People feel a comfort zone with their family and will do anything for them. I ve made the decision to play Antigone as a 15 year old girl, as this seems to make sense of the choices she makes. She makes decisions based on what she feels strongly about at the time. She rows with her sister as all young people that age do. Which section do you think will be the most challenging to play and what moment are you most looking forward to? When Antigone knows she will be taken away to be walled up. In rehearsals we looked at an image of a woman in India who was recently stoned to death. We find it hard to relate to and believe this could really happen. I ve never had to suffer anything like that and have to use my imagination in playing the scene. Antigone starts the play strong and continues at a fast pace throughout. There could be a tendency to cry my way through the role but the audience will lose sympathy if I do so. I will have to choose carefully when and where to play the strongest emotions. The row with Creon. This is when Antigone is most powerful and strong minded. He is her uncle, so basically it s a family row.
Interview with Lucy Pitman-Wallace, Director This is the second time now that you have directed the play. How is this version going to differ to the last? What fresh ideas will you be adding? I re-imagined the whole piece. It s a new production with seven new actors and a new set that can tour, so it s definitely not a re-vamp. In this version there should be the feeling of claustrophobia, that the audience and actors are stuck in a walled-in world. We are witnesses to an intense situation and must stay there until the end. Creon has been caretaker king twice before the play begins. This is his first chance to wield real power. This creates parallels in my mind with Gordon Brown, who has been a powerful figure in British politics for a long time but only now he has chance to be Prime Minister. In Brown s first week, he had to react immediately to the car bombs in London and Glasgow airport. He has also just called his holiday short to address the recurrence of foot and mouth. Creon says, in his first speech: Until a man has passed this test of office And proved himself in the exercise of power, He can t be truly known for what he is, I mean This seems to be a very similar position to Gordon Brown at the moment. Has the play become more relevant to today s audience since the last time it was performed? It is still very relevant as regards to the individual versus the state. We are currently told to be vigilant in looking out for suspicious packages and behaviour. We are all made to feel responsible for this. Antigone doesn t ever kill anyone; all she does is try and bury her brother s body. It is a non-violent protest that leads to a violent result. It raises the question - do more people die if you stand up for yourself? This makes me think in some respects about
the war in Iraq. Is it better to have Ismene s response and keep quiet and not respond? Why did you make the decision to have the chorus on stage throughout the performance? I want the chorus to be in the room with the problem rather than being observers. Not just witnesses but implicated in the action. Which of the play s themes will you highlight in the direction? How do you take on leadership? How do you implement the principles you held before you had power into the new exercise of authority? Can you be king and hold onto your ideals? How does one justify in the rights of the individual in terms of the needs of society? My hand that drove the blade Creon.
The Burial at Thebes pre- and postshow activities Get writing In the end, just how much does Creon regret his decisions? Write a monologue to explain his point of view. Get talking Antigone was wrong to go against Creon s wishes. Discuss. Consider the contrast and rivalry between Antigone and Ismene. How do they relate to Antigone s fate? (see script extract 1) Consider the play in light of recent political events. Creon had two previous experiences of being leader, when standing in for others. At the time the play begins he wants to exert his authority. Discuss the parallels with Gordon Brown when he took over as Prime Minister. Consider the quote willing to die for what someone believes is right. Compare Antigone s actions to recent happenings with religious/political events across the world today. Get acting What do the chorus really think of the events that are unfolding in from of them? Without Creon around would they react differently? Thought-track the character s real thoughts and add these to a section of script/improvisation of Antigone telling Creon what she has done or Creon finding out about Haemon and Eurydice s deaths. (See script extract 2) Create a series of still images to depict the series of events that happen inside the tomb, which we do not see in the stage play. Add a line to each to describe what Antigone is thinking. Add lines of what other characters said to her, leading up to the tomb, to add tension. Get creative In the Playhouse production there is only one key prop: a silver bowl. Design and/or make another prop that you feel would be significant to the plot and explain your reasons. The production sticks to traditional style clothes and Greek amphitheatre style stage. Create a modern set and or costumes that would still be relevant to the play s themes. Consider setting it on a non proscenium arch stage.
Script Extract 1 I mean - have you not heard? What I heard was enough. Our two brothers are dead, The Argos troops withdrawn And the pair of us left to cope. But what s next, I don t know. That s why I came outside. The walls have ears. This is for your ears only. What is it? You have me scared. And right you are to be scared. Creon has made a law. Eteocles has been buried As a solider, with full honours, So he s gone home to the dead. But not Polyneices. Polyneices is denied Any burial at all. Word has come down from Creon. There s to be no laying to rest, No mourning, and the corpse Is to be publicly dishonoured. His body s to be dumped, Disposed of like a carcass, Left out for the birds to feed on. If you so much as throw him The common handful of clay
Extract 1 continued You ll have committed a crime. This is law and order In the land of good King Creon. This is his edict for you And for me, Ismene, for me. And he s coming to announce it. I ll flush em out, he says. Whoever isn t for us Is against us in this case. Whoever breaks the law, I ll have them stoned to death. I say, He has put it to us. I say It s a test you re facing Whether you are who you are, And true to all you belong to, Or whether- Antigone Antigone, What do you mean a test? If things have gone this far What is there to do? You can help me do one thing. And what is that? His body. Help me to lift And lay your brother s body.
Extract 1- later in the scene Dishonour them I do not. But nor am I strong enough To defy the laws of the land. Live, then; and live with your choice. I am going to bury his body. I fear for you, Antigone. Better fear for yourself. Oh stop! This must never get out. No. No. Broadcast it. Your cover- ups sicken me. I have nothing to hide From the powers that see all. I m doing what has to be done. What are you, Antigone? Hot-headed or cold- blooded? This thing cannot be done. But it still has to be tried. You re mad. You don t have a chance.
Script extract 2 Will it be enough for you To see me executed? Creon: More than enough. Then why don t you do it quickly? Anything I have to say to you Or you to me is sheer exacerbation. I never did a nobler thing than bury My brother Polyneices. And if these men Weren t so afraid to sound unpatriotic They d say the same. But you are king And because you re king you won t be contradicted. Creon: So you know something no one else in Thebes knows? They know it too. They re just afraid to say it. Creon: But you re so high and mighty you ve no qualms. None. There s no shame in burying a brother.
Script extract 2 Photos of the cast in rehearsal Everything I have touched I have destroyed Creon Everything I have touched I have destroyed Creon Photos by Robert Day