by Sophokles newly translated by Anne Carson
seen at the Barbican on 26 March 2015
The play is directed by Ivo van Hove and stars Juliette Binoche as Antigone and Patrick O'Kane as Kreon.
A wide platform with some spaces at the front (between the platform and the true stage level) which could be low shelves for books or folders in an office, or for ornaments in a living room. A high wall at the back along the whole width of the stage, with a narrow vertical rectangle cut in its centre and surmounted by a large circle almost exactly covered by a disk. The space beyond the rectangle is black, an entranceway into some unfathomable space. Light bleeds around the edges of the disk covering the circle.
Thus the setting for Ivo van Hove's striking interpretation of 'Antigone'. As the play begins, dust is blown across the stage, and the huge wall becomes a screen onto which is projected a dry landscape engulfed in a dust-storm. The disk slowly moves in a great circular sweep until it completely disappears, revealing a dazzling circle of light, as if a solar eclipse were just ending.
