Westmont College Puts Its Own Spin on ‘Antigone’ with ‘Antigonick’

Greek Tragedy Is Adapted for a Modern Audience

A rehearsal for Westmont College's production of 'Antigonick' | Photo: Courtesy

The Greek tragedy Antigone (by Sophocles) is a story from the early days of the western theater tradition. In the play, Antigone’s brothers die on opposite sides of a political conflict. The winning side decrees that she cannot mourn the death of her fallen “enemy-of-the-state” brother, but, ever loyal to family, Antigone defies the long arm of the law. Westmont presents Antigonick, an adaptation of this classic tale by Anne Carson, October 24 to November 1.

“Anne Carson has done a very special thing with this translation,” says student dramaturg Ashley Clark. “She does away with the fluff that makes Antigone an ‘unreachable’ Greek tragedy to the average theatergoer. By stripping the story down to its most essential aspects … the barrier between the story and the 21st-century audience vanishes.”

Director Mitchell Thomas says many Antigone adaptations are too text-heavy, lacking space for exploration. “Carson’s version is a distilled-down, poetic structure of the show that allows for movement and music and atmosphere and bodies in a way that I found very compelling and exciting.”

A new character, Nick, exists both inside and outside of the story. “Carson is interested in the concept of time,” says Thomas. “The overlay of time estranges the action — the play is going on, but outside, there’s Nick, someone who’s present, living now on the stage, watching.”

Clark calls Antigonick “an effort to participate in a timeless, ongoing scholastic conversation about the Sophocles play and its ruminations on family, despair, resistance, resilience, burden, duty, and, perhaps above all, love.”

The play is ancient, yet Antigone/Antigonick’s battle between the rights of the individual versus the law of the state feels resonant.

“Antigone spoke to audiences 25,000 years ago and is still speaking to us today,” says Thomas. “We’re not alone in feeling the injustice and pain and misery and tragedy…. It leaves us yearning for a more just and peaceful world.”

See Antigonick from October 24 to November 1 at Westmont’s Porter Theatre (955 La Paz Rd.). See westmont.edu/boxoffice.