Antigone – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London

The Salterton Arts Review of Antigone at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park. A clever retelling, but in a production that may be too much of a blunt instrument.

Hello Again, Antigone

The last time I came to Baker Street it was to see an updated retelling of Sophocles’ Antigone (Anti-Gone by Xameleon at the Marylebone Theatre). This week I came to Baker Street to see an updated retelling of Sophocles’ Antigone. This time by Inua Ellams. And at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. But still, there’s apparently something about this London neighbourhood and reworking this particular classical story.

And to be fair it is a good one! To very briefly recap, Antigone has two brothers. Or had, because they have either already died or die during the play depending on the version. The consistent thing is that her bad Uncle Creon gives one a funeral with honours, and refuses to allow the other to be buried. Antigone won’t stand for this, and defies her uncle even to the point of endangering her own life.

Inua Ellams’ version moves the action to contemporary Britain. Antigone hails from a British Pakistani family. Uncle Creon is the first Muslim Prime Minister. Influenced by an advisor whose motives are unclear, he feels he has something to prove. Needs to make an example of the nephew who committed a terrible act. And honour with a state funeral the nephew who died trying to stop him.

Faith And Courage

If you haven’t read my posts on Inua Ellams before, let me recap briefly. We first came across Ellams in 2020 when the Bridge Theatre hosted a series of monologues as a way around Covid restrictions. An Evening With An Immigrant combines poetry and storytelling and shares Ellams’ life story and sometimes Kafkaesque interactions with the British immigration authorities. Next up was Search Party, a fun evening of poetry with audience participation. And then a rehearsed reading of A Block of Flats at The Albany in Deptford. My previous experience of his work has always been that it is erudite, funny, and generous.

And now we have a contemporary retelling of Antigone. I found it an interesting watch, as it’s both infused with subtleties and really rather blunt, all at the same time. There’s a lot packed in there, to be fair. Representations of and reactions to British Muslims. Personal freedom vs. excessive state governance. Politicians who will do anything for power, to the detriment of their communities or the nation. The dangers of Big Data. The decimation of youth services. Parallels with real situations: Polyneices’ stateless body in a detention facility, Shamima Begum abandoned stateless in a Syrian refugee camp.

Where Anti-Gone was about standing up to absolute power (a Putin-infused stance), however, this Antigone is more about personal faith. Antigone’s family, as an interview with Ellams in the programme points out, is not a monolith. Neither is the British Muslim or British Pakistani community generally (or any other community really). Each of the siblings has their own approach. And we see Antigone develop a very personal relationship with faith and belief through the action of the play. Her absolute conviction that her brother must be buried in line with his beliefs. The way she reevaluates all of her relationships against this measure. And the way that this still means forging her own path.

What About That Blunt Instrument, Then?

I felt that the approach Ellams took to reinventing Antigone as a contemporary British parallel was very clever. As always with his work it is imbued with causes close to his heart. But there is just so much here that everything moves at a fast pace, without always having the room for subtlety. I felt I was being told a lot of things rather than picking them up myself.

I also struggled a little with the direction and staging of this production. Ellam has democratised the poetry of his Antigone by putting it into the hands (or mouths) of the chorus – in this case variously crowds of bystanders, policemen, citizens. But there is very bold choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, and together with the initially soft-play style set design by Leslie Travers, I have to say it reminded me a little bit of productions aimed at school students. All clear messages and cool music and dancing to connect with young people. That might be a little unfair as a lot of other reviews loved the use of the chorus so let’s say that’s just my personal opinion.

Otherwise there were elements I really appreciated. Mostly the performances – Zainab Hasan as Antigone, Nadeem Islam as her brother Polyneices and Shazia Nicholls as her sister Ismene were all excellent. They were believable, passionate, nuanced and powerful. See also the interesting article from Islam in the programme. Elements of Leslie Travers’ set design that came to life in the second act were also very moving. The whole creative team also brought to life a really beautiful representation of personal relationships to Islam.

So overall I recommend Antigone to a certain extent. It may be out of your hands anyway – it turns out that performances don’t go ahead in the rain! So the unsettled September weather must have been disappointing for the team and for some ticket holders. I guess them’s the breaks when you’re in England and staging work outdoors. If you come across a fine day and want to see a fresh interpretation of a very old story, this is not a bad choice.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3/5

Antigone on until 24 September 2022