Monday 9th May 2016 - Antigone (Criteria 2 - Unit 4)

Our Performance Of Antigone

Character 

• Gender changes - We changed the character of Tiresias from a man to a girl, this is because we are a mixed gender group and decided to keep Antigone and Ismene as female characters. This is different to the original performance as in ancint Greece no women were allowed in the theatre, either on the stage or in the audience. However in the 21st centry most shows are of mixed genders and we thought that this was better suited to our cast.
• modernising context (making it more relevant to a 21st century audience) - We decided to use the idea of the chorus being displaced people, we decided on this context because in todays world there are many people like this. We based this on refugees as it is very relevant to some of the media stories and problems that our society lives with. This worked well with the story line as the royal family rule over and therefore it made sense for the chorus to be very vunerable to this.
• Costume - We were influenced by steampunk costumes for the royal family, as this is more relevant to todays time period. However with this in mind we encorporated the original idea of colours from ancient greek drama, the royal family wore peacock colours that were very bright and bold, suggesting to the audience that they are more wealthy with both money and power. On the other hand the chours are wearing dull simple clothing that is very similar to each other, this suggests to the audience that thye all have a loss of idently as well as living with the very minimal amount of money etc compared to the royal family.
• Chorus movement - Some of the movement that we chose to choreograph for some of the chorus is very influenced by contemporary dance, this is because it relates more to the 21st century. Dance styles change over time and new things are introduces however the movement that we chose to incorporate is very modern compared to other styles we could have used. I think this worked as we used the pace, tone and rhythm to help us choroegraoh to the text.

Themes of the performance material

• power and status - We worked a lot around the different in power and status between the royal family and the chorus, this is because we wanted the audience to be clear that Creon was driven mad by power and he couldn't cope.
• morality - Antigone has to accept the blame for the burial and not allow her sister to take the blame for something she had not done.
• balance of humanity and divinity - Each individual has a different level of power and determination, however the gods have the final say and can change the fate of all the characters.
• determination - Antigone is a very strong willed person and knows tat she will soon reach her seath, on the other hand Ismene is also very detwerind to save her sister fom a horrible fate.

Original style of performance material

• It was important for us to change the concept so that it is more relevant to a 21st century audience, this is because in the original performance there is a lot more reference to the gods. Today we do not have all of the gods that they had in ancient Greece and Greek mythology. It is important that the concept is relevant to

Potential contemporary style of performance material

• Refugees and displaced people - Our concept for this show was to show the difference in power and wealth between the displaced people and the royal family. This fits into contemporary style as in the media there is lots of attention on how the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer, there are many countries where the majority of the population is living an under-privileged quality of life. Although topics like this are covered widely in the media, I believe that it is important to teach people about important subjects and topics through the arts. This is because it suggests how things are happening often from many different points of view, in the media often only one point of view is covered and therefore it is beneficial for an audience to watch a show like this. 
• Flags - We used flags that had peacock feathers on them to hang up on the set, this was partly linked to the ideo of having a monarchy, as the flag is representing the kingdom which Is ruled by Creon. Secondly the peacocks relate to the royal family, as they are wearing colours associated with this animal such as greens, blues and purples, this shows that the flags represent them. Peacocks are regal animals, this suggests how weathly and how much status the royal family have.