Review: Antigone Exits (Minerva Theatre, Chichester)

Review by Hywel Farrow-Wilton 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Every now and then, a show comes along that makes me think, “How on Earth am I going to review this?” Usually, it’s because the production was so average that I'm struggling to find anything to make either a positive or constructive comment about. However, in the case of the Antigone Exits, a world premiere play from Chichester Festival Theatre, the sheer intensity of the text and the ferocity of the performances on display were so all-consuming that for much of the time after leaving the theatre, I was genuinely lost for words. Having taken some time to digest the production, I will now attempt to convey to you just how extraordinary, biting and utterly devastating this show is.

The original play Antigone traces its origins all the way back to Ancient Greece as an Athenian Tragedy written by Sophocles in 440 BC and premiered at that year’s Festival of Dionysus. It is one of three plays known as the Three Theban Plays, alongside Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus, all based on the legends of the ancient city of Thebes. The original story takes place in the aftermath of a civil war that was fought over the Theban throne after the previous King, Oedipus, abdicated and his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, both wanted to succeed him. At the end of the war, both brothers kill each other, and Oedipus’ brother-in-law Creon is named King of Thebes. Creon orders the public honouring of Eteocles and denounces Polynices as a traitor and decrees that his body will be left outside the city and no one is allowed to mourn him. The main plot of the original play follows their sister Antigone’s attempts to mourn and bury the body of Polynices in direct defiance of her uncle’s decision.

Please don’t worry if that seems confusing or Ancient Greek Tragedies aren’t really your thing, because Antigone Exits is not a retelling of Antigone in the traditional sense. It instead reanalyses and recontextualises the story through a contemporary lens while infusing elements of post-dramatic theatre to create a version of the story of Antigone that is fresh, relevant and an enraged indictment of the laws that govern our lives. 

Nina Segal’s script uses characters and elements of the original plot, but they are secondary to the ensemble of actors who serve as a group of omniscient narrators, as well as having breakout moments where they deliver impassioned monologues as ‘actors’. These breakout moments serve to highlight and contemporise specific moments between the characters that exist within the Greek Tragedy and bring the audience emotionally closer to the actors, so they aren’t simply spectators to the action but consider how the content of the text directly impacts each audience member and the society we participate in. It feels necessary and urgent in respect to its contemporary commentary on the themes of the victims of conflict and their search for justice under the shadow of governmental policy blocking people’s ability to openly mourn or even protest such measures. 

Director Jeff James establishes a clear visual style rooted in a post-dramatic aesthetic that expertly dissects and interrogates the themes of the source text in a way that is both uncomfortable to watch and playful to experience. He implements hard transitions between scenes that take place within the fiction of the story and when the actors, literally, take the microphone to speak directly to the audience, signalling to the audience a clear difference in time and space that puts the viewer on the spot to confront the stories they are telling. What is especially great about the direction is its ability to constantly surprise the audience by ignoring traditional plot and character conventions, adding to the overall subversive nature of the show in keeping with Antigone’s radical history. 

One word to describe Alex Lowde’s design is striking. Even standing in the foyer outside the auditorium getting a drink, my eyes were immediately drawn to the centrepiece, which can only be described as a huge cereal bowl that someone has cut in half. Dominating the back of the stage, the performers walk in one by one, climb into the bowl and sit chatting whilst waiting for the show to begin. It provides a sort of liminal space between the performing area, where the actors become their characters performing the story, and the audience seating, creating an equalising effect between the audience and actors and establishing the absence of a fourth wall from even before the show begins.

The ensemble collectively tell the story through their text and the movement, effectively meaning there are no ‘lead’ roles as such. It is this collaborative brand of casting and performance that gives the story such weight -  Antigone’s story and her rebellion may be the action of a single woman, but acting on the legacy takes a collective effort. As such, while I will comment on some of the individual performances, the strength of the show ultimately lies in the brilliance of the performers acting as one cohesive ensemble.

Nina Cassells is the actor who takes on the voice of Antigone. When in character, the one overall emotion I felt from her exceptional delivery was the overwhelming sense of injustice she feels in the face of Creon’s decrees. As the ‘main’ character of the original story, she is the driving force of the conflict at the heart of the piece and Nina amplifies it so it hits the back wall and reverberates around the room. 

Creon could be a role played quite simply as an austere king, but Max Bennett brings fear and doubt to the role, deepening and bringing welcome complexity to the character. Creon craves stability over challenging the established rule of law, especially after the tumultuous civil war, and it is this anxiety he delivers when not playing Creon, brilliantly embodying the fears of a society teetering on the edge of war and peace. 

Melody Chikakane Brown plays the seer Tiresias, who predicts Thebes’ destruction to Creon. Her delivery of a monologue about accompanying her husband to Dignitas so he can end his life brought tears to my eyes, making this play stand out amongst the many I have seen this year. This combined with (I would argue) David Bowie’s best and most emotionally stirring song ‘Rock n Roll Suicide’ makes Melody’s performance one of the greatest I have seen this year. 

Antigone Exits may be an uncomfortable watch, that doesn’t hold back from touching on sensitive topics not everyone may want to think about on a Thursday evening. However, I implore all who can to take a chance on this remarkable play, as it is an hour and 15 minutes worth of theatre that will stay with you for a long time after. 

Antigone Exits plays at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester until 17^th October. Tickets from https://www.cft.org.uk/events/antigone-exits

Photos by Andy Paradise