Antigonick - Winner of the Criticos Prize

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When her brother Polynices declares war on Thebes, the city is defended by her other brother Eteocles. Instead the collaboration is a typical effect of the latitude that is given to visual artists in some contexts: the artist is allowed to do whatever she wants, because art is thought to work on the register of visuality, of the non-verbal.

It's a riff, perhaps, on Judith Butler's investigation into what might have happened had Antigone, rather than Oedipus, been the point of departure for psychoanalysis. When the blind prophet, Teiresias, enters he looks to the Chorus instead of Kreon to declare ‘ Hail, King of Thebes’ as a reminder the power is in the people and not the King, lest he is a tyrant. That comment does not seek to denigrate the text in any way, since this brief rendering of the original is wonderful, it is just that I have missed out on an additional experience and feel annoyed with myself for being a cheapskate.Meant to be inhaled in one sitting, Carson’s version has a radical minimalism, a thrilling strangeness, in design as well as content. and i thought that, although their words are incredibly condensed in this version, each character remained intact. I’ve always been quite fond of the tale of Antigone, the daughter of tragic hero Oedipus and his mother Jocasta who stands up in defiance of the State and her own Uncle. But Anne Carson eliminates the intrinsic misogyny of the Ancient Greek culture and now a more feminist theme (we are girls / girls cannot force their way against men // yet I will ) is prominent.

Other fun plays on words is Antigone mentioning she is lonely inside herself, poking at her fate of being sealed alone inside a cave. A dizzying little play that Carson directs towards maximum effect with minimal space, it is one to read again and again.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Her Antigone is up against a ruler who is not only blundering and brutal but misogynistic and crass. Like AE Housman's parodic " Fragment of a Greek Tragedy" ("ALCMAEON: I journeyed hither a Boetian road. She reaches past the contemporary moment to craft her unique and universal voice, one that is both as ancient as Sappho and intimidatingly modern. This is where Carson’s work is best staged: in the uncanny gateway between the temporal and the timeless; in the nick between the world of powerboats and the sublime, terrifying realm of the dead and the still lively gods.

There’s a sense of things being wrapped up, a kind of childishness in his seesaw of words: “Late to learn O yes I am/late too late O then O then …” He blames the chorus for bringing him the awful news. And like in Sophocles’’ work, Antigone stands still like a heroin – she is cognizant, she knows what her fate is, she makes a decision perfectly recognizing the consequences, she picks family, she picks justice, she fights for what she thinks it’s right. He has been such a boorish strongman—sexist, brutal, rash—and his final realization comes so hard and fast that it feels less earned.Sólo digo que me gustó este aire fresco, esta nueva Antígona, esta posibilidad de dejar a un lado la sobreinterpretación y lo academicista para, sencillamente, disfrutar de un drama que tiene un pelín de todo. Carson is nothing less than brilliant--unfalteringly sharp indiction, audacious, and judicious in taking liberties.

Most curious of all the cast is Nick, a silent part that spends the entire play on stage measuring things.With this work, I not only read reviews/essays but found a video of Anne Carson performing the work. He does not seem to hold himself fully accountable for the vast devastation his actions have unleashed, the human cost of his unjust wield of power.