Antigone – The Barbican, London

Antigone

I wanted to like this production, I really did.  I generally like the innovation of the theatre the Barbican put on, as well as the fact that they stage foreign language productions, challenging plays, and other bold choices.  I’ve seen Juliette Binoche before, and she always seems reasonably good.  This version of Antigone, though, I just did not like.

It was not all Binoche’s fault though, I should state at the outset.  The translation, for a start, fell a little flat for me: like many translations of classics I found it switched too much between trying for antique eloquence, and attempting to connect with the audience with modern dialogue.  I also did not like Ivo van Hove’s direction and Jan Versweyveld’s design.  I found it to be too unfixed in time and place, which made connection with the characters more difficult for me.  Plus I really hated the slow motion footage of random modern street scenes and holiday photos, which I found to be distracting without adding any value.  

I also question productions whose central characters double as a chorus: at first I was confused as to why Antigone’s sister now seemed a lot less bothered about the whole thing, until it dawned on me that she was now someone else entirely.  It would have taken some pretty first class acting for me to overcome these disappointments.

Disappointments in Feminism

And, for me at least, first class acting there was not.  There was a lot of shouting, yes, but I didn’t engage with the actors, I didn’t feel any sense of pathos, and I didn’t mind when they all died at the end.  Obi Abili captured the audience’s attention as guard bearing bad news, but I think maybe would be better in a Shakespearean comic relief role as the laughs were almost jarring in an otherwise sombre play.  

To get on my feminist high horse for a moment, there was a scene where Binoche was comparing her brother’s grave to a marriage bed and lamenting the fact that she would die unloved that had me rolling my eyes in annoyance at her priorities (when she could instead have been angry about the pointlessness of her death in general).  I think I would have felt differently had I already been immersed in the world of Antigone and Kreon and their deadly battle of wills and values.  Eye rolling, in general, is not a good sign in an audience.

A few changes, and I think this could be a truly excellent production.  A set design and costuming more decided in its time and space.  Fewer microphones on the actors and more projection of heartfelt emotion.  A few more actors, come to think of it, so Antigone’s sister is free to play Antigone’s sister and not a disinterested bystander in her spare time.  It has the makings of success, but in the 2000-year history of the play I am sure it has been staged to much greater effect than it recently was at the Barbican.