Review of Sideshow Theatre's Antigonick

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Antigonick. It was by Sophokles and it was translated by Anne Carson and it was directed by Jonathan L Green. It was about a girl named Antigone (Anu Bhatt/Ann James) who wanted her brother to be buried, but it was against the law to bury him because he was supposedly a traitor. So Antigone went out to bury him, and she was caught and was going to be buried alive. I thought it was kind of cool how they restarted the story halfway through the play and had each actor switch roles and do it from the beginning. It was kind of like a great feat to change your character at the snap of your fingers. It was an amazing thing. It must have been weird to watch someone else saying the lines that you just said. I think they did that so they could show how different actors portrayed the same role. And I thought that was pretty awesome.

The first part of the show started out with Anu as Antigone talking with her sister Ismene (Eleni Pappageorge) about how unfair it was that only one of their brothers could be buried. So she decided to bury him but then the guard (David Guy) caught her and she was Kreon (Ann James) sentenced to death. It is kind of ironic that she went to bury someone and ended up buried herself. And you don't really know if she is alive or dead at the end. I'd like to think she is alive because I like happy endings. I really liked when Eurydike (David Prete) said, "This is Eurydike's monologue. This is her only speech in the play." And I think that it is cool not to have them recite the monologue in a straightforward way and just saying what it is, just basically summarizing it. It is unusual and it showed that the character of the wife, she was just "the wife." She didn't do anything else. The Chorus (Lona Livingston), who is basically the narrator, also had a part to play. She was basically the court advisor to Kreon, like Jafar but she is not evil. Teiresias (Maritza Cervantes) was really awesome because he was completely blind but he could tell the future. And I really liked when the The Chorus said about Teiresias something along the lines of "And history shows, he is always right." I thought that was funny because it was very matter-of-fact. And I liked when The Chorus was proving someone wrong already, but then they still made it so matter-of-fact.

I found it cool that they switched actors and did the same show a second time, but the second time around the jokes weren't funny and you already knew what was going to happen, and it made it less enjoyable than the first time even though the actors were equally as good. But then it was also good because you got to understand things a little better because you were hearing it for the second time. And I think it was also cool how the actors' interpretations were different. Kreon in the first part plays Antigone during the second part. I think that the actor got to get the experience of both characters. If Kreon could have seen Antigone's side, the ending might have been different and he wouldn't have tried to bury her in the first place. Eurydike hates Kreon a lot, so the play has that actor become the person that they hated before. So then you can get both perspectives like I said before.

People who would like this show are people who like Greek drama, different perspectives, and knowing what the ending could have been. I think people should go see this show. It was a very interesting and eye-opening experience for me.


Photos: Jonathan L. Green