Antigone
★★☆☆☆ Ponderous
French Institute in Scotland (Venue 168): Fri 1 – Sun 24 Aug 2025
Review by Rebecca Mahar
The Mythography Collective bring their production of the tragedy of Antigone back to the Fringe, with a festival-long run at the French Institute in Scotland.
Using an English-language version of Jean Anoulih’s 1944 play (translated by Jeremy Sams), Mythography describes this production as “urgent and haunting.” Unfortunately, it is neither.
Clare Robinson in Antigone. Pic: Mythography
Inspired by the Sophocles play of the same name from the 5th century BCE, Anouilh’s adaptation of Antigone was written during the Second World War and produced in Paris under Nazi censorship as an allegory of the French Resistance.
Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, is niece to Creon, the current king of Thebes, and engaged to his son, her cousin Haemon. But these plans go awry when her two brothers Eteocles and Polynices are killed in the Theban civil war and she is determined bury the rebel Polynices, against Creon’s decree and under penalty of death.
promising
The play starts promisingly enough: as the audience enters, the company stand behind two long films of plastic sheeting suspended from the trusses overhead, obscuring them, but acknowledging their presence. Only the Chorus (Jamie Richard-Stewart, in this production dubbed Prologue/Lead Chorus) paces the space between the sheets, smoking and stirring up the fog that lingers near the floor.
The cast of Antigone. Pic: Mythography
When Richard-Stewart speaks, it is with command and a compelling journey through the extended opening monologue that introduces the story and its characters. As the characters are named they move slowly out from the plastic, arriving into writhing groups that respond to and illustrate the prologue with a sense of suspended animation, demonstrating detailed work by movement director Tsoi Huen Wong.
The following scene with Antigone (Clare Robinson) and the Nurse (Sarah Stanton) is excellent. Robinson establishes the curious young girl Antigone could have been and Stanton wonderfully navigates the complex emotions of the strict almost-mother who cares deeply for her charge.
barrage
After this, the production descends into something mostly flat and stakes-less. Lines are delivered in a near-constant half-shout, attempting to create tension without real emotional investment so it is largely people talking loudly at one another without listening. This sort of barrage is exhausting and alienating to watch and listen to, and a disservice to the story.
Angus Morrisonin Antigone. Pic: Mythography
There are flashes of brilliance, however. Noah Sarvesvaran is exceptional as Haemon: emotionally honest, physically committed, and heartbreaking in his devotion to Antigone. Gabriel Bird as Jason (aka 1st Guard/Chorus) is a delight, singlehandedly holding down what humour can be found in this tragedy, and giving tremendous dimension to an ordinary person in this cast of royalty.
The principal fault for the pervasive one-note-ness of performances such as Angus Morrison’s Creon and (as the play progresses) Robinson’s Antigone, in particular, must be laid at the door of director Philomene Cheynet. Outbursts come out of nowhere – in what would have been entirely reasonable points in the dialogue if they had been built up to with any intent. Then quickly recede back into the previous nonspecific semi-shouty blandness, complete with entirely non-believable physicality of violence when such interactions arise.
potential
The promise of Robinson’s early scenes goes unfulfilled, and though Morrison shows great potential, his Creon has been allowed to simply stagnate.
It’s the nature of this play for one or two characters to take turns occupying the stage for length periods of time. Cheynet has for the most part failed to create a dramatic landscape in which these scenes move with intention, drive at themes, or latch on to the conflict and fraught emotions of the characters in ways that are interesting to watch.
The Antigone Chorus. Pic: Mythography
Antigone is at its best whenever the full chorus appears. Working together physically, vocally, or in the movement of the baton lights that give the production most of its illumination, the ensemble are a cohesive and compelling unit. Cheynet’s lighting design and the choreography of its transitions are brilliant and appropriately moody, being unafraid of upward angles and harsh shadows.
The technical aspects of the production are generally excellent, with a taught sound design by Jim Brandom. Unfortunately though, the production mistakes dramatic underscoring for the actual development of tension between characters.
For a production with such huge potential, high-powered cast, and creative design and technical elements, this Antigone is disappointingly underdeveloped. Despite the best efforts of its cast, it is entirely lacking in catharsis, and fails to live up to Anouilh’s defiance.
Running time: Two hours (no interval).
French Institute in Scotland (Salle Emilienne Moreau-Evrard), West Parliament Square EH1 1RF (Venue 168).
Fri 1 – Sun 24 August 2025.
Daily (Not Mons): 2.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Clare Robinson and Sarah Stanton in Antigone. Pic: Mythography
ENDS
