Antigone Exits
Nina Segal (after Sophocles)
Directed by Jeff James
Minerva Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre
Star rating 3.5
The final line of Nina Segal’s response to Sophocles’s tragedy is “So many dead and for what?” And it’s a neat summary of the thrust of this penetratingly intense (75 minutes without interval) play which explores abuse of power and family dynamics along with the futility of war – any war, anywhere.
The famous story – retold many times and in many contexts which is testimony to its timelessness – give us Antigone desperate to bury her out-of-favour dead brother in defiance of her tyrannical uncle King Creon. She disobeys him which leads to her being shut in a cave and left to die – which Creon ultimately regrets. Segal’s version begins with the entire cast of seven in modern casual clothes delivering the clearest possible account of the back story – in the style, of course of a Greek chorus which is a neat touch. They sit inside a huge white structure like half an eggshell emerging onto the main part of Minerva’s thrust stage as the plot kicks off. We are meant, I think, to see them as actors morphing into characters and providing what is effectively a critique of the play but I’m afraid the symbolism of the egg passed me by.
Segal’s text shifts seamlessly between dialogue and third person narrative and is often rhymed. And from time to time a character seizes the centre stage, suspended mic and appears to drop out of role to share thoughts about recent horrors mostly relating to terrible deaths of children such as dead babies in Gaza or the case of baby Victoria whose pitiful dead body was found with the rubbish in a carrier bag after her parents tried to conceal her birth. Although these interjections are powerful they feel rather contrived.
The acting in this production is impressive. Nina Cassells, whom I last saw as Pauline Fossil in Ballet Shoes at National Theatre, is outstanding here in a completely different role – bereaved, angry, bloody-minded and, in a strange way, selfish. Cassells nails every nuance in this complex character. Also excellent is Max Bennet as Creon – outwardly ruthless and single minded but internally vulnerable. And the moment when he appears to step out of role is quite something.
A shout out moreover to Stage Management who clearly have to work very hard on this production. Antigone creates a big circle on the orange floor by pouring dark brown liquid from a can – it’s presumably meant to be blood although it looks more like thin mud. Eventually it is spread everywhere and a second can poured over Creon. It must take an awful lot of cleaning up (and laundry!) between performances. At the end Front of House have to install temporary barriers to stop the audience skidding in it.
There’s a lot to admire in this production but I’ve seen versions of Antigone (Roy Williams’s take on it for example) which I’ve liked better.
