Antigone

Since Creon’s uncompromising rule over the people of Thebes began, his subjects have been forced to choose one of three options: cower, tolerate or serve. Polyneice’s failed putsch has provoked strict security measures aimed at stifling further unrest. Military patrols pace the streets while the secret services carry out purges and journalists who dare to criticise the powers that be are silenced. Yet some citizens maintain a stubborn resistance, with Polyneice’s sister Antigone unbowed in her opposition and determined to ignore the new laws. Denounced by some as a whore, idealised by others as a saint, Antigone brings chaos to the internal order and forces Creon to act. The power of Thebes’ ruler, it turns out, is not as secure as it might appear.

«In our age of brutal wars, humanitarian disasters, power-crazed rulers and a media that is out of control, this conflict between radical uses of state power and an uncompromising individual still goes under the skin. Especially so because Feridun Zaimoglu and Günter Senkel manage to transpose Sophocles’ text into modern times, using language that is easily accessible and incorporating some powerful imagery.» (sda)