About the Play:

Antigone has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Female Scenes.

Antigone is a full-length drama by Jean Anouilh, translated by Lewis Galantière. Oedipus' daughter defies her uncle in insisting on a proper burial for her brothers, whom he killed in order to take the throne, in Sophocles' tragedy. Antigone is a searing tale of love, power, and the greater good from Ancient Greece.

Antigone is still the most powerful play ever written about the conflict between our obligations to the state and our duty to the ties of kinship. This version of Antigone was adapted and presented in France during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Jean Anouilh gave the Greek legend a new relevance through his interpretation that depicts an authoritarian regime which mirrors the predicament of the French people of the time. Based on Sophocles' ancient Greek tragedy, Antigone which was first performed in Athens in the 5th century BC, its theme was nevertheless topical. For in Antigone's faithfulness to her dead brother and his proper burial and her reiterated "No!" to the dictator Creon, the French audience saw its own resistance to the German occupation. The Germans allowed the play to be performed presumably because they found Creon's arguments for dictatorship so convincing. The message that the power of one voice can make a difference is still vital today.

Antigone was originally produced in Paris in 1942, when France was occupied and part of Hitler's Europe. It was produced in modern dress in New York starring Katherine Cornell and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. The Galantière translation of this play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is regularly performed and studied around the world.

Cast: 5 female, 15 male

What people say:

"Anouilh is a poet, but not of words: he is a poet of words-acted, of scenes-set, of players-performing." — Peter Brook, director

"Its dimensions are noble, its intentions uncompromising." — Southwestern University, Texas

About the Playwright:

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) is regarded as one of France's best-known dramatists. After completing his early schooling, Anouilh studied law for a short time at the Sorbonne, and then worked as a copywriter at Publicité Damour. Though his career spanned five decades, he is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, a version of Sophocles' classical drama that was seen as a thinly disguised attack on the Nazis and on the Vichy government. One of France's most prolific writers after World War II, much of Anouilh's work deals with themes of maintaining integrity in a world of moral compromise.

Lewis Galantiere (1985-1977) was a writer, critic and authority on modern French literature. His own best‐known work was as a translator, of Antoine de St.‐Exupéry, Jean’ Cocteau, Francois Mauriac, Sacha Guitry and Jean Anouilh.