Last weekend, book lovers convened in the seat of justice in
Brooklyn to discuss a play translated, adapted, and performed in countless
iterations: Antigone, which comes to BAM in a new translation by Anne Carson September 24—October 4. In the ornate Borough
Hall courtroom, philosopher Bonnie Honig and playwright Ellen McLaughlin joined
performer Kaneza Schaal to discuss the play.
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| Discussion begins in stately Brooklyn Borough Hall. Photo: Beowulf Sheehan |
by Nora Tjossem
Approaching Antigone from a philosophical standpoint, Honig kicked off the event by proposing lamentation as political action—the eponymous character not as martyr, but as activist. McLaughlin introduced the piece as “perfect theater,” living on in such works as The Island, a two-man, play-within-a-play performance of Antigone set in South Africa, and her own Kissing the Floor, an adaptation set in the Depression era US.
