15th International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama, Cyprus, 2011
Paphos Ancient Odeon, 24th July _21.00
Makarios III Amphitheatre, Nicosia, 25th July_21.00
Curium Ancient Theatre, 26th July _21.00
Directed by Anastasia Revi
Performers (in order of appearance)
Antigone - Lisa Stuart
Ismene - Kathryn Carpenter
Chorus - Kostantinos Kavakiotis, Ian Mairs, Matthew Wade
Creon - Ryan Hurst
Sentry/Messenger - Tobias Deacon
Haemon - Adam Youssefbeygi
Tiresias - Johan Buckingham
Eurydice - Susie Fairbrother
Set, Original Costume Design and performance photos - Maira Vazeou
Costume Design for Cyprus - Joanna Beart -Albrecht, Raechyl Esther Borman
Composers/Musicians - Daemonia Nymphe
Lighting and Photography - Yiannis Katsaris
Graphic Designer - Katerina Kres
Production Manager - Martina Reynolds
Set Construction - Mark Bramfitt
Costume Makers - Alan R. Brooker, Guilia Pecorini
State loyalty versus human sentiment, old and ‘wise’ versus young and rebellious; a conflict of justices, morality and duty fuel this powerful and passionate performance of Sophocles’ tragedy.
A city devastated by war. A family, the House of Oedipus, doomed by incest, guilt, grief and greed. Two brothers slay each other; one loyal subject, the other enemy and traitor, one to be given a hero’s burial, the other to be left unburied and exposed to the vultures. Creon, the new king, Antigone, his niece, both wilful and passionate, are determined to be faithful to their individual causes; duty to the State for one, duty to love and morality for the other. In this visual and physical performance of Sophocles’ ‘Antigone’, an eternal conflict transcends all boundaries in a tragedy that still resonates in contemporary culture and politics.
Click here to read a poem by Matthew Wade, actor of Antigone.
Theatre Lab Company, UK’s Antigone by Sophocles
THE PENULTIMATE presentation at the 15th International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama commenced on Sunday at the Paphos Ancient Odeon and while over the years we have seen a number of productions of Sophocles’ Antigone the Theatre Lab Company was mesmerising. The interpretation, directed by Anastasia Revi, was fascinating, expansively dramatic and true in its delivery to the Greek tradition. While the story of Antigone may be familiar, this interpretation gave considerable scope to the players using their voices to great effect.
The Creon of Ryan Hurst was a masochistic interpretation of the role. He revelled in the evil of refusing any funeral rites or burial to the body of Polynices and willingly, on finding Antigone had buried the corpse, condemned her to death by incarceration alive in a cave despite his son Haemon, who’s engaged to Antigone, pleadings for her forgiveness. Creon’s agony after the warnings from prophet Tiresias and his decision to free Antigone, only to find she has already hanged herself and Haemon has killed himself plus Eurydice, his wife, has committed suicide was an emotional tirade of acting. The Antigone of Lisa Stuart was not the usual meek and mild child, she stood up to Creon, screaming abuse for his deeds and accepting her fate not unlike some mad Ophelia. I particularly enjoyed the delivery by Tobias Deacon in the dual roles of Sentry and Messenger, as Sentry with a touch of insolence but as Messenger with a degree of whimsy and manipulation on the action. The Haemon of Adam Youssefbeygi was handsomely butch and could forcefully defend himself against the tyrant his father. Director Revi made strong use of Johan Buckingham in the small role of Tiresias whose fine oration possessed the supernatural powers to physically break Creon. Clever use was also made of Kostantinos Kavakiotis, Ian Mairs and Matthew Wade as Chorus, each with his own character but collectively an effective team that moved the action through to its tragic end. Kathryn Carpenter was a strong Ismene and Susie Fairbrother a sad Eurydice both with strong and effective deliveries.
The entire production was set in front of some derelict hovel designed by Maira Vazeou and built by Mark Bramfitt with Daemonia Nymphe attributed as the title for the two musicians who provided an effective accompaniment to these dramatic proceedings. Despite humidity and even more bugs this was a worthy theatrical experience!
By Chris Ekin-Wood, Cyprus Mail
An original inspiration based on the experience of International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama of Cyprus. A poem by Matthew Wade, actor of Antigone.
Aphrodites Gift
At 37,000 feet
I find the time to breathe the immediate past.
The sidewinding sandy foothills below
Form a crater into which my mind settles,
Before floating gently forwards on candy cotton clouds.
The waking dream of the past week
Seems almost as distant now as it was before;
Echoing the dwindling pin-pricks of rivers, forests and villages below.
The limitless mists that surround us as high sky travelling companions
Obscure the clarity of my recollection
Their impenetrable translucence separating me from yesterdays vision.
My fellow troubadours and I have once again diverged,
Like single cell organisms separating from the whole,
A oneness that cannot be reclaimed
Until the cycle is complete.
As ancients we inhaled each other,
Exhaling as one,
A shared breath that will forever link us,
And to our journey with the immortal.
The colours of our rebirth into temporary eternity
Have been left behind,
But remain
Forever part of our re-mixed palette,
As the stony sun-kissed scrubland and its belt of perfect azure
Breathed us in return,
Our oxygen shared with another epochs collectivity
And anothers
Breaking the limits of our minds time compass
Dark clouds race backwards above,
A soda stream of conscious thought
Flying to the hour glass sands of the soul.
These days now flow through me
Invisible to all but those who look.
The raindrops and teardrops of love and truth and being
Do not stain us,
But nourish,
As the winding rivers beneath us their flood plains.
For the first time in my recent journey
A passing is mourned,
A thought
And I laugh and ache in the same breath.
