Park Theatre, London – until 22 February 2025
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
3***
Alexander Raptotasios’s bold modern adaptation of Sophocles’ tragedy is an intriguing mix of drama and debate.
While the ancient tale has King Creon forbidding the burial of Antigone’s brother with honour – an order defied by Antigone, Raptotasios has home secretary Creighton (Phil Cheadle) refusing to allow Antiya’s (Hiba Medina) sister Esmeh (Hanna Khogali) back into the UK. Esmeh was groomed at 14 and became an ISIS bride in Syria. Now, with one child dead and her youngest son sick, she is fearing for her life and desperately waiting for news of appeals in the English court. Creighton’s son Eammon (Ali Hadji-Heshmati) is in a relationship with Antiya and is horrified by his father’s actions.
Sorcha Brooks introduces the proceedings with initial questions for the audience to answer on their keypads – generating pie charts instantly projected that are used to steer the action of the play. Brooks’s character Ty is a modern version of the prophet Tiresias, here an analyst and political strategist who takes the pragmatic view, but finally reveals that the facade of democratic voting shaping events is all a sham and the information has been used to gauge public reaction and plot Creighton’s next move on his path to number 10.
As Antiya realises that there will be no swift result through the appeal court, she takes drastic action and goes on hunger strike. The building political and racial tensions that erupt as her protest gains publicity are explored through TV debates and more private arguments, with each side not trusting the other and trying to gain the upper hand. Sophocles’ themes of justice, morality, family loyalty and civil disobedience are all still relevant. The play takes place on Marco Turcich’s stark white set that serves as courtroom, TV studio and House of Commons. Projections of social media and TV rolling news are used to recreate the rabid frenzy of coverage of emotive political topics. The easy anonymity of social media and notoriety of TV pundits allows a cacophony of conflicting reports and views to bombard the audience, resulting in a sensory overload that is wonderfully effective as it blurs the borders between emotional and intellectual judgement when the next question is asked.
The excellent cast work incredibly well as an ensemble. None of the characters are fully fleshed out but are mere sketches of personalities that could all possibly be manipulating the optics. Your sympathies can change with one line during certain scenes, as each character doggedly follows their moral/political code. Ty’s question to the audience about one character’s sincerity was met with a tremulous “I don’t know” – which sums up the clever ambiguity of the characters and the writing. This is an innovative and exciting approach to a classic, and well worth a look.