Antigone (2013/2014)
"... a matchless way of introducing ancient theatre to the young."
South Wales Argus
Genevieve Say, Guy Hargreaves and Kerry Frampton in Splendid’s 2013 production of Antigone (photos: Lewis Wileman)
It’s party time in Thebes! The war is over and the city has a new leader… what could possibly go wrong?
And so the stage is set for the tragedy of Antigone, devoted daughter, loving sister, princess, carer, believer, extremist. She is about to spoil the party for her uncle Creon, father, husband, lawmaker, protector, king. It’s an ancient story about the war between individual and state, law and conscience, heart and head.
Join Splendid’s bunch of clowns as they present a deceptively joyful tragedy that puts the audience centre-stage. Who would you die for? Who has power over you? And what will you do with your ten seconds of freedom?
Antigone tour poster design: Kerry Frampton
Splendid Productions’ ‘Antigone’
Toured Sept 2013 – March 2014
Written by: Sophocles
Adapted by: Kerry Frampton & Mal Smith
Additional material by: Ben Hales
Directed by: Mal Smith, Lucy Cuthbertson, Matt Wilde
Songs by: Kerry Frampton, Mal Smith, Ben Hales
Design by: Kerry Frampton
Body by: Christine Frampton
Cast & Characters
Genevieve Say: Clown, Antigone, Tiresias
Guy Hargreaves: Clown, Creon
Kerry Frampton: Clown, Ismene, Guard, Haemon
with thanks to: Molly Bertrand, Corelli College
More about Antigone
“The performance was absolutely brilliant! … The fact that it is very different from the original performance conditions gives the students lots to compare and discuss in the exam”
Nicky Rope, Head of Drama, Tewkesbury School
“Yet another example of how Brecht’s techniques can be used so effectively. The humour is what the students remember!”
Bryan Sluman, Drama Teacher, Ashfield School
“The performance was absolutely brilliant! … The fact that it is very different from the original performance conditions gives the students lots to compare and discuss in the exam”
Nicky Rope, Head of Drama, Tewkesbury School
“Yet another example of how Brecht’s techniques can be used so effectively. The humour is what the students remember!”
Bryan Sluman, Drama Teacher, Ashfield School
“Energised, clever, accessible and utterly enjoyable”
Liz Jones, Drama Teacher, St Edmund’s School
“Particularly funny and the contrast between comedy and tragedy was brilliant”
Pip Cawte, Head of Drama, Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital
“The students were thoroughly enthralled… Days like this are what the students will remember!”
Rob Smith, Head of Drama, St Augustine’s Catholic College
“Creative and inspiring”
Rachel Brownsword, Head of Drama, St Mary’s Catholic High School
“Students are enthused by what they saw and are already discussing ideas they can use in future devising projects… Thanks for a great theatrical experience!”
Emma Hudson, Head of Drama, STWCC
“An outstanding Brechtian tour de force! The emotional punch at the end was brilliant.”
Berj Tekerian, Learning Leader Expressive Arts, Amersham School
“Sophisticated and yet deceptively simple, putting acting skills at the forefront. It is also fabulous CPD for us teachers. Invigorating and exciting.”
Lara Ramrattan, Head of Drama, Ilkley Grammar School
“Splendid continually bring new and exciting ideas”
Gemma Brown, Drama Teacher, The John of Gaunt School
“Exceeded expectations on all levels, imaginative, hilarious and heartbreaking all at once!”
Carl Dinnington, Head of Drama, Poole Grammar School for Boys
Press on Antigone
“… Imagine Greek drama performed by The Three Stooges on speed and you’ll have some idea of what this production was like… a matchless way of introducing ancient theatre to the young.”
South Wales Argus –
Read the whole review…
Antigone, Blake Theatre, Monmouth, 29th January 2014
Reviewed by South Wales ArgusImagine Greek drama performed by The Three Stooges on speed and you’ll have some idea of what this production was like.
As the first member of the audience to enter the auditorium I was greeted by said Stooges as a survivor of a war. They’d obviously come through it triumphantly to judge by their red-nosed euphoria, funny hats and bendy balloons.
Naturally, I thanked them for their welcome and sat down with a full house of other ‘survivors’ – mostly school students and their teachers – to watch the accursed bunch of characters who inhabit Sophocles’ Antigone.
Not so much a bundle of laughs, more a bundle of horrors mitigated by laughter, Splendid Theatre’s view of what befalls the House of Thebes is a matchless way of introducing ancient theatre to the young.
Serious-faced episodes chronicling the story of royal succession, death and pretty much universal woe were interspersed by the oft-dreaded audience participation, in which we were asked to consider the issues raised by the drama and what we felt about the concepts of freedom, power and the like.
This audience actually dreaded nothing about taking part, including going mental when asked to enact ten seconds of freedom, itself a comment on the extended issue of responsibility. Well, what would you do with yours – go skinny-dipping in public at Porthcawl?
I’ve seen Splendid before. We were never told who they were and in their self-styled spirit of anonymity I didn’t bother to find out. But they formed a cracking trio, predicting bad Greek tidings with vaudevillian verve.
[Nigel Jarrett]