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| Obi Abili, Juliette Binoche, and Patrick O’Kane in Antigone. Photo: Jan Versweyveld |
by Ivo van Hove
Antigone, by Sophokles, tells the ancient story of one of Oidipous’s daughters, who refuses to follow the orders of her uncle Kreon, the new Head of State.
Kreon has ordained that Antigone’s brother Polyneikes, who, along with their brother Eteokles has just died in a cruel civil war, should not be allowed a burial because he is a traitor.
A war of words begins with short but razor sharp scenes between Antigone and Kreon: an exhaustive, long, bitter but also passionate discourse of opposing views on how to treat the dead, especially when they are deemed an enemy of the state.
