Kolkata's Sawapna Sandhani Theatre brought the play Antigone to the Bharat Rang Mahotsav. In a conversation with Utpal K Banerjee, director Koushik Sen explains how this centuries old play still holds relevance in today's time
Sophocles, the great Greek playwright belonging to the 5th century BC, termed Greece’s “Golden Century” wrote his famous tragedy Antigone around 411 BC. The play was based on the internecine wars of Thebes (part of Greece) and exposed dangers of the absolute ruler or tyrant in the person of Creon, a king to whom very few would speak freely and openly their true opinions and who, therefore, made the grievous mistake of condemning his niece Antigone for an act which he pitifully regretted in the play’s final lines. Athenians, fiercely proud of their democratic tradition, identified his error in the many lines of dialogue which emphasised that the people of Thebes believed he was wrong, but had no voice to tell him so.
In the original play, two brothers leading opposite sides in Thebes’ civil war, died fighting each other for the throne. As the new ruler, Creon decided that Eteocles, as hero, would be honored and Polyneices, assumed traitor, would be in public shame. Indeed, the latter’s body would not be sanctified by holy rites, but would lie open on the battlefield: as prey for carrion animals like jackals and vultures: the harshest punishment at the time. Antigone and Ismene — sisters of the dead brothers met secretly outside the palace gates late at night and Antigone expressed the resolve to bury Polyneices' body, in defiance of Creon’s edict.
Ismene declined to help her, fearing the death penalty, but was unable to stop Antigone from going to bury her brother herself. Totally opposing Creon, Antigone buried her brother, and was caught. When Creon locked her away in prison, she killed herself. Meanwhile, not realising Antigone had taken her own life, the blind prophet Teiresias, Creon’s son Haemon (also betrothed to Antigone) and the Chorus pleaded with Creon to release her. Creon finally relented, only to find Antigone dead in harness. Out of despair, Haemon and Creon’s wife killed themselves, and Creon was left in stark distress and anguish.
Antigone, recently presented by Sawapna Sandhani from Kolkata at NSD’s Bharat Rang Mahotsav, kept the flavour of the original Greek story nearly in tact, except glossing over some of the later seminal events. Directed under the theatre-veteran Koushik Sen (who also donned the role of Creon), the play scored well in its neat dramatic orchestration. First, it squirrely created today’s milieu of world-wide prevalence of cruelty, violence and senseless torture: through hand-carried paintings, war-sounds, marching of armed troops and flash-lights scouring not merely the stage but the large auditorium. Second, the uniformed guards ran through every available space, making the audience constantly sense that they were placed in a live battle-ground and whistles shrieked from time to time. Third, the proscenium was not merely littered with dying men and decaying corpses, but the cyclorama was eclipsed by huge gallows carrying grotesque cadavers: left hanging to rot. Finally, the Greek-like Chorus was used to the hilt with and without masks to create a neat division among men: meekly favouring, or whispering opposition, to the authority-figure. On the whole, it was a very credible realism that touches one to the core.
Excerpts from interaction with the director:
How did you contextualise a millennia-old play in modern timesIJ
I was reading the noted Russian historian Eric Hobsbawm’s classic work on terror, politics and war in the 20th century, and was inspired by his analysis on how human hatred will never cease to exist even when decades and centuries go by and mans hunger for power will bring darkness even before sunset… and will be darker than any night.
How did you conceive of your musicIJ
I banked on creating an ambience of war and factional fights that surround us and used war-music.
What were the lines of the guitar-strumming youth who was the eyes of the blind prophet TeirissiusIJ
It was a nihilistic song, running: I imagine there’s no heaven,/It’s easy if you try,/There’s no hell below us,/Above us, only the sky…
You find Sophocles relevant today…
While working with Antigone I have wondered a million times why a thousand-year-old play still holds relevance. Is it because of its literary excellence or is it because of the dramtist’s foresight: far beyond his timeIJ