Jean AnouilhAntigone

Purchased this for a theatrical workshop. This was to be the play for our first performance but the rights to perform and actors' insurance is a bit out of my instructor's range. This is an interesting play nonetheless. Can you say family dysfunction? And if you're totally into feminine power this is the play for you! Antigone avenges her brother's death against their uncle. That's all I'm gonna let on. Read the book for yourself to discover how everything turns out. Buy it! Totally worth it!

This version of Antigone written under German occupation is most difficult to act. Creon may be played as a reasonable man who has power forced upon him. And Antigone could be played as dangerous fanatic who flouts law that is necessary to preserve order in society on the edge of chaos. It is a masterpiece of abiguity. In certain ways the playwright has been more subtle than Sophocles. The problem that bothers most people who read the play is that the context of Sophocles is not the context of Anouilh. A director who doesn't understand this will try vainly to make Antigone into a Resitance fighter and Creon a a demonic Nazi. Doesn't work that way. This is a must read along side Sophocles.

An extremely poor translation. The dialouge is clunky and unrealistic. Try the Jeremy Sams adaptation instead.