Review: ANTIGONE Is Exquisite Ode To The Past, Message For The Present at Seymour Centre

Sport for Jove's reputation has gone from strength to strength this past year for presenting Sydney's most gripping, topical and connective theatre canon, as part of which Damien Ryan's adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone is absolutely at home. A transportation of an ancient Greek tragedy into the context of a very-near-future where its messages of female empowerment, the dangers of dictatorship, the real threat of toxic masculinity on communities, and of "public opinion" on societal progress are as valid if not more for today's audiences. The ensemble is flawless and diverse, for which alone the ticket price is worth reinforcing a vision for Australian stages such as Sport for Jove have impressed. Andrea Demetriades is a force of nature in the title role, commanding change amongst the people on stage and in the stalls through a performance direct, deep and dynamic. Damien Ryan's text is nothing short of exquisite, which bears repetition and reiteration for its multi-lingual, multi-dimensional transformation of an archetypal narrative. To create something that evokes authentic ancient tragedy not with pity but with empathy is what made this production less theatre and more art in its strongest form with every passing cue and paragraph.

Melanie Liertz's canvas on which the production is painted, in itself sets Antigone up for supremacy, and need remind production companies that do continue to possess the opportunity to give deeper thought to set, that it is almost always the final star to make a five-star piece of work. Liertz's ruins were realistic - thanks to the craftshumanship of Rosalind McKelvey Bunting - expansive, and did much to further deepen the interaction of the performers. Every cinder block and chair brought a function and aesthetic to the work, heightening drama and use of space. Thomas Royce-Hampton's live percussion signals just how remarkable Bryce Halliday is as composer, performer and interpreter of the live-performance medium which as a cabaret artist himself he is well-versed. Halliday's sound design transposed civil soundscapes, halting maternal dirges and high-tension synthesising to maximise the action past fever pitch in moments. The first overture itself indicates to audiences that though this is an adaptation, the spirit of the original has been respected and will remain valuable to the retelling.

Andrea Demetriades isn't "one to watch", but a "can't stop watching" performer. Every animation of her humble frame is packaged tight to text in its exposition. Her grief is sudden and combative against her gifted mind and exasperation for her sister Ismene who represents resilience to Antigone's resistance. Louisa Mignone, while not necessarily leading much of the action, has mastered the communicative aptitude of her body and energy; her bathroom interludes are haunting and last in the mind where Demetriades pops off the synapses, which makes for a solid performance pair. William Zappa's Creon is too eerily like the politicians of today, and even eerier too akin to the politicians of the past from which we blindly believe we've progressed from the mistakes of. Zappa is in complete touch with the hubris of the character, and his performance unshakeable by the chaotic surrounds he moves through. The final transformation upon the discovery of his dead son (I don't need a spoiler alert for a 2500-year-old play) is therefore all the more bitter a moment for audiences to spend with this ignorant spin-demon, which Halliday plays for a loop back to genuine tragedy in his selection for the final music, which I will not spoil for its heartbreaking genius.

The coordination of Elijah Williams and Marie Kamara's characters initially worried as reductive and tokenistic, but as the piece progressed, their delivery of the play's crux message in poetic and metaphoric styling, another nod to ancient methods, made for striking emphasis to the action. Janine Watson also had an important responsibility in reminding a key and often elapsed element of Greek tragedy: humour. As Sentry, her deadpan delivered had the audience in stitches. Fiona Press as Leader of the Chorus was striking, and gave no quarter for the perforation between the primary story and the moral musing of the Chorus as is their traditional artistic duty. Anna Volska was right there with Press for energy, which primed her for her portrayal of blind prophet Tiresias in a performance that could only be described in its perfection as devastating.

Indeed what Damien Ryan and Terry Karabelas have done as directors of this production is not only adapt it, but amplify it. They have developed a complete stage experience, with no element left to its own device, but curated to deliver a plea for cognisance in the people facing a similar situation now as then, in their relationship to themselves, their families, their politics. They enriched a story frequently stripped of its ethnic context and imbued it with a deep sense of tradition. The direction exacted familial connection between performers, intellect to the purpose in the roles of secondary story, and a utilisation of production for an almost overwhelming sensory experience. Matt cox's lighting design played with my heartbeat, particularly in the pop-flash transitions which stood particularly courageously alongside Deborah Galanos' Eurydice to sharpen her sorrow. Liertz's costumes were updated, not modernised and made beautiful remarks on character, especially Demetriades' wardrobe. Antigone was inspired, it did inspire, and may it continue to do so across our industry and collective conscious.

Tickets available here.
Images by Sport for Jove.

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