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Antigone − Learning Guide Antigone − Learning Guide About This Guide ...............................................................1 Background Information ..................................................2 Teaching Information ........................................................4 Production Notes Contextual Information .............................................6 Key Design Elements ................................................7 Performance Style ...................................................11 Key Moments ...........................................................12 Plot Synopsis....................................................................13 Find Out More ..................................................................17 1 Antigone − Learning Guide About This learning guide supports the National Theatre’s production of Antigone, directed by Polly Findlay, which opened on May 30th 2012 at the National’s Olivier Theatre in London. Our packs are designed to support viewing the recording on the National Theatre Collection. This pack provides links to the UK school curriculum and other productions in the Collection. It also has a plot synopsis with timecodes to allow you to jump to specific sections of the play. Here you’ll also find all the information you need to enable you to study the production and write about it in detail. This includes notes about all of the key elements from performance style to design. You’ll also find pointers for further research. 1 Antigone − Learning Guide Background Information Recording Date – 4th July, 2012 Location – Olivier Theatre, National Theatre Age Recommendation – 14+ (some strong, bloody images) Cast Antigone ......................................................Jodie Whittaker Ismene .......................................................Annabel Scholey Chorus .............................................................. Paul Bentall Chorus ...................................................Martin Chamberlain Chorus .......................................................... Jason Cheater Chorus ..................................................... Stavros Demetraki Chorus ............................................................... Paul Dodds Chorus ................................................................. Craige Els Chorus ................................................... Michael Grady-Hall Chorus ..............................................................Tim Samuels Chorus .............................................................. Ross Waiton Chorus .............................................................Alfred Enoch Creon, King of Thebes .................... Christopher Eccleston Teiresias, a blind prophet ............................ Jamie Ballard Messenger......................................Kobna Holdbrook-Smith Eurydice, Creon's Wife ......................................Zoë Aldrich Soldier......................... ........................................Luke Norris Haemon ........................................................Luke Newberry Boy ................................................................... Trevor Imani Boy ...............................................................Reuben Pearce Boy ...................................................................Daniel Walsh Ensemble ...........................................................Jo Dockery Ensemble .....................................................Emily Glenister 2 Antigone − Learning Guide Background Information Recording Date – 4th July, 2012 Location – Olivier Theatre, National Theatre Age Recommendation – 14+ (some strong, bloody images) Musicians Music Director / Percussion......................Philip Hopkins Percussion .........................................................Joji Hirota Woodwind ..................................................... Tom Lessels Creative Team Director ........................................................... Polly Findlay Writer ................................................................. Don Taylor Designer ...................................................... Soutra Gilmour Movement Director ........................................... Aline David Lighting Designer ..................................... Mark Henderson Music and Sound Designer ..............................Dan Jones Fight Director ...................................................... Bret Yount Video and Projection Designer .....................Dick Straker 3 Antigone − Learning Guide Teaching Information This production is particularly suitable for: • Drama and theatre students studying Greek drama. • Anyone interested in re-imagined contemporary productions of classic plays. • Drama and theatre students studying Polly Findlay as a contemporary theatre practitioner. In particular you might like to explore: • The decision to move the action of the play from Ancient Greece to a modern European seat of power and how this affects a contemporary audience’s understanding of the play. • How the sound design works to support the storytelling and reflect the characters’ actions and emotions. • The role of the chorus in a contemporary production of a Greek tragedy. • Polly Findlay’s directorial vision and how this production compares to her other work, including her production of Treasure Island. 4 Antigone − Learning Guide Teaching Information There are a number of other productions in the National Theatre Collection that relate to this one, which you and your students may wish to explore alongside it. Productions of Greek drama Production Date Adaptation/Playwright Director Medea 2014 Ben Power/Euripides Carrie Cracknell Other productions featuring members of the same creative team Productions Artist Treasure Island Polly Findlay - Director Les Blancs, Twelfth Night Soutra Gilmour - Designer One Man Two Guvnors, Coriolanus Mark Henderson - Lighting Designer Treasure Island Dan Jones - Sound Designer Romeo and Juliet Aline David - Movement Director Treasure Island Bret Yount - Fight Director 5 Antigone − Learning Guide Production Notes The following notes have been compiled to help guide you through the significant design and performance aspects as you watch the production, or to remind you of them after you have watched it. You may also want to make your own notes and form your own opinions on the effectiveness of these aspects as you explore the production. Contextual Information You might like to explore some of the following to aid your understanding of the context of the production: • Modern audiences watching this production may find the constant reference to the gods an unfamiliar concept – in the UK we no longer have such a strong political-religious connection. However, Bryony Lavery states that there are still parts of the world where religion does govern politics and therefore it is still a relevant idea. • The opening sequence of the chorus and Creon watching a military strike on Thebes is reminiscent of a famous photograph called The Situation Room. It is of President Obama and Hilary Clinton (US Secretary of State), with military advisors and personnel watching the capture of Osama bin Laden in 2011. The photograph can be viewed here. A discussion of that event and photograph is available here. A comparative image from the show is below. 6 Antigone − Learning Guide Production Notes Key Design Elements: Set • The Olivier stage has a revolve which is utilised to aid swift transitions between locations. • The main set has the appearance of a military operations room (it is the Palace War Room) with Creon’s office formed by glass walls upstage centre. Items of set include several desks and varied office chairs. Details of set dressing include angle-poise lamps, computer screens intercoms, cardboard archive boxes and telephones. Creon’s office also has a desk, with a pot plant and the back wall displays a large portrait, presumably of the King. • At the beginning of the play the office action includes the chorus, and Creon, all gathering round a desk that is centre stage, watching a screen. They appear to be watching a military strike. This desk is moved to the side in other scenes. • The war room has a sense of it being a bunker or underground room, with reinforced concrete walls. The colours are drab browns, greys and cream. It is a functional working environment. There are no comfortable areas. Key Design Elements: Costume • Antigone wears a blue-grey dress with a small pattern on it. It has a collar, is knee length, short-sleeved and is gathered at the waist with a fabric belt. She wears white ankle socks and brown lace-up shoes. This reminds us of Antigone’s youth, and perhaps lack of power in this military environment. After her arrest Antigone wears a plain brown, V-neck dress made of cotton, and ballet-style pump (that are taken off her). The thinness of the fabric makes her look vulnerable. • Ismene wears a dusky pink silk blouse and burgundy skirt which sits just below the knee. She wears dark footwear. • Creon wears a well-cut navy-blue suit. • The Chorus all wear office wear shirts (often with rolled up sleeves), ties, smart trousers. Men of military rank wear uniforms with their insignia on the left breast pocket. 7 Antigone − Learning Guide Production Notes • Soldiers all appear wearing dirty/distressed army fatigues and combat boots. • Haemon wears brown slacks and a white open necked shirt. • Eurydice wears a two-piece skirt suit in a light olive green, a white long-sleeved blouse and matching court shoes. • Teiresias’s costume is dirty and
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