playwright, direction and interpretation
Elena Bucci and Marco Sgrosso
sound and live electronics Raffaele Bassetti
keyboards Dimitri Sillato
Le belle bandiere Company
The great tragedy of contrasts, Sophocles' Antigone has caused a great effect on our imagination by its extraordinary clarity in dealing with a mythical theme, by disconcerting news, by the simplicity of poetic language able to cross centuries, mode, ephemeral changes, without losing anything of the splendor of its direct communication.
We enter the Greek tragic world guided by the suggestions of the mystery that surrounds it and build a breathtaking vocal score based on Sophocles’ original text.
A musical path of Antigone's story - opposing its strong-willed ethics to the unforgiving view of an ideal government by Creon - does not preclude an openness to a broader view of the Theban cycle.
This work is also an extension of the other tragedies of Sophocles that outline the story in a framework of the primal guilt of Oedipus, murderer of his father King Laius, son and husband of the unfortunate Jocasta, and father of rival brothers Eteocles and Polynices.
Thinking about the important theme of “blindness”, this play links the physical loss of sight with the inability to see the truth: Creon is unable to see beyond his own royal arrogance, and opposes himself to infallible Tiresias' disturbing predictions.
Electronic music and sounds are mixed with the dialogue that contrasts the actions in a mixture of differing linguistic codes: music, theater and dance.
The texture of sound wraps around us.
We are at a vigil for Antigone, for the unburied Polynices, for our forgotten identity. We find again in Antigone a great idea: no one can take away your freedom, no one can delete your idea of utopia.
In these fearful times, Sophocles' tragedy shows us how important responsibility for our actions is.
The theater is nowadays one of the few collective rituals that we continue to practice.
If history tells us that Pain weaves through all parts of life: that struggle leads us to fight against catharsis.
The rites change their shape and meaning depending on the participants, time or places.