Antigone Evaluation

Our final piece contained all of the elements that we hoped it would express. And after endless rehearsals with missing members of our group, we finally managed to compile our entire scene. We were able to display the political message of ‘inequality between sexes’ with the use of juxtaposition through levels and movement. This was done with the minimal movement of Antigone. I managed to maintain this by imagining a small box in which I was able to exist in, compared to the two Creons that were able to roam where they pleased. This was followed through by our physical piece at the beginning in which the two Creons push me down and were able to forcefully do as they wanted. The physical section contained the use of ‘gestus’ because it demonstrated the social comment of status and hierarchy. Despite Antigone being inferior to Creon, it was important that Antigone was presented in a powerful way that was confrontational and not scared. Inequality of sexes would still be displayed if Antigone was presented as a weak character however it would have completely gone against the rest of the text and my character development of Antigone. I know that I managed to present my character In this way because at the end of the show when we spoke to the audience, I was asked ‘isn’t it weird to have a strong lead female role in an old piece of text?’. This response confirmed the fact that Antigone was shown as a fiery and powerful woman that stuck up for her rights and beliefs rather than gave up.

The use off split and multirolling made is easier to follow Brechtian techniques and allowed us to stop the audience from developing feelings of sympathy towards Antigone. The use of creating a montage effect also meant that the audience were able to stick to the key issue at hand without allowing them to get lost within the scene and disregaurd the political message. Unlike most of the other groups we didn’t make up our own scene, but instead stuck to the text; because although we could have created something based around our own response, we didn’t want to create a new story. This was mainly because the new story would have the same political issues which would intrigue the audience but would go against Brecht’s technique of distancing the audience. One of the things we did consider was modernising the text so that it was more appealng and relevent to our audience but we chose to ignore that idea because we thought that being able to display the fact that the same issues from Ancient Greece are still around today was powerful in itself. Our use of the V effect meant that we were able to deliver what we wanted the audience to have without them getting too lost within the play itself.

We as a whole cast (including the other groups) performed in simple white lighting which although was not necessarily a discussed choice, it did emit Brechtian vibes as Brecht believed that white lighting ‘illuminates the truth’. Alongside this, my group used minimal costume and props. I got into my costume on stage to demonstrate that I am an actor and not Antigone herself which was something that Brecht did in his own performances a lot in order to create the V effect. And instead of using props, we used three different people (Jacob, Connor and Joe) to create an abstract podium for Antigone to hang herself on. The podium was formed as I delivered my last confrontational speech. As I did my speech, the two Creons got on their hands and knees (side to side) forming a chair, and once I’d finished, I sat on their backs. Connor was behind me at this point and I grabbed his hands, tightening them around my neck to symbolise a noose. Connor then yanks my head back and I collapsed. Jacob and Joe both gently lowered their bodies with me on top to the ground and a white sheet was placed over my body. The use of physicality to imitate another object allowed the V effect to be put in place but also allowed our physical object to become the symbolic prop within the performance along with the white sheet. The white sheet was symbolic because it was first placed over Antigone’s dead brothers body, then her own. Therefore the sheet acted as a symbol of closere and purity. 

I think the entire show went amazing (especially compared to the previous run throughs). During our final performance, Angelica forgot her first couple of lines and so I had to try and get her back on track. Together we managed to do this and I don’t even think the audience were aware of the mishap. I was only able to containue because Angelica reacted professionally and tried to give me a respondse to continue with. After the first section, everything ran smoothly and everyone was really taking on their characters mindsets. The two Creons were vicious and frightening and I took on board my directors feedback of ‘getting angryer earlier’. I felt a real connection with the two Creons and was able to let each of their words infuriate me and so I was much more snappy as a character. My temper was shortened by getting louder and talking faster and I heightened my confidence by taking my time to deliver certain lines. The two Creons were my source of energy and we bounced off one another. In fact, I'd say our only weakness was the fact that we lacked group rehearsals. I believe that we would have felt so much more prepared and confident in ourselves if everyone had turned up to the rehearsals that were put in place. There was only one rehearsal that we had had as a whole group in which we ran our scene which left us very unprepared. In fact, finishing the show and knowing how much of a success it was, was such a great relief after the panic of how the scene would unfold.

Someone that really shone during the performance for me was Milo. His groups performance was about ‘Taxes’ and was probably the most confusing for me and the audience (one of the audience members I was talking to found this group the most intriguing but was unsure of the political issue). However, Milo caught my attention because I didn’t previously notice his character hugely but during the performance he caught the corner of my eye and made me have to force myself to contain my internal laughter. He really picked up on his characterisation and when pretending to type on a computer his expression was priceless. I imagined his character to be a really friendly and helpful person (almost like a mum). I loved the contrast between the theme of taxes and the workers expressions because no one is ever happy or remotely willing to engage positively during a conversation about taxes. However, to develop his character further he could have worked more on the sections where he was supposed to be really frustrated. This is because he has quite a monotone voice and so he could also work on expression and emphasis on certain words. 

However, the entire show went well and watching the process that we'd all gone through was great. During the political term process I have learnt what a political play and monologue have to contain in order to be classed as political. I have also learnt how to use the techniques from Brecht in order to make my own work better and different. Although the process has been long and draining, I would be more than interested in another political play as it has widened my understanding of certain issues. I really loved how easy it was to convey an issue in a way that didn’t feel patronising or forceful to the audience.