Dramaturgy Five

A monograph, according to Presnell is; a book on a focused subject and more often then not by one author. The book I found was on the every day life of Ancient Greece. I used this book as a basis for looking at the political state of Greece during the time Sophocles wrote and staged Antigone (about 442 BCE).

During the original writing and performances of Sophocles’ Antigone Greece (especially Athens) was in an odd place politically. Twelve years before they had become the Athenian Empire, but hadn’t fully realized its potential (that wouldn’t happen for another eleven years or so. Four years after the original writing of Antigone the Parthenon was completed (Robison, 6), which is widely considered one of the greatest achievements of the ancient world. So the restlessness of the politics that happens in Antigone was a reflection of what Sophocles may have been viewing politically mixed  with the rejuvenated religious fervor at the time.

Robinson, Cyril E. Everyday Life in Ancient Greece,. Oxford: Clarendon, 1933. Print.

Dramaturgy Four

In the article “Another Antigone”, Saxonhouse looks at Eudipides exploration/use of the character Antigone in a form we’re not used to seeing. We see a unsettling alternative to the familiar, one that rubs harshly against Sophocles’ influential story. Antigone in Euripides “Phoenician Women” goes through the exploration of “…troubling epistemological disruptions that allow Antigone to become a political actor…” (Saxonhouse, 475)

Euripides play though a more psychological exploration of Antigone, he does explore the political stand of Thebes after Oedipus’ discovery of his incestual relationship with his mother. With both of Antigone’s brothers going to war, Polyneices showing up with an Argive host to demand the throne from his brother Eteocles. Antigone has been kept hidden in her maiden room, till she eventually casts off any shame or respect for the hierarchy that has kept her hidden. And she eventually gains the strength to rise above gender restrictions that kept her repressed throughout her life. (Saxonhouse 479-480)

Seeing a different side to Antigone allows us to approach our production with a wider view, allowing us to find a more dimensional world. We can look back and find where Antigone came from. Also Euripides gives us a better view of the political turmoil that Thebes was going through.

Saxonhouse, Arlene W. "Another Antigone: The Emergence of the Female Political Actor in Euripides' "Phoenician Women"" JSTOR: Political Theory 33.4 (2005): 472-94. Print.

Dramaturgy Three

Clarence Brown Theatre (Univ. Tenn.) -  Modern dress. (via :http://www.adamheffernan.com/)

http://www.clarencebrowntheatre.com/

Qued Productions – set in 1940’s

http://www.qedproductions.org/

Both of these give the modern aesthetic we're striving for with this production. you can also see the variety that former productions have played with in the relationship between Antigone and Creon. The Intensity of him being close and watching her versus the space and distance that causes her to disobey him. Both of these pictures also show the bleakness (through the set/ color choices) that the characters are going through. 

Dramaturgy Two

Some background about the play.

Third play in Sophocles’ Oedipus trilogy following Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus (ORO, 5^th entry).

Antigone along with her sister Ismene and her brothers Eteocles and Polynices, is the offspring of the incestuous relationship of her father Oedipus and his mother-wife Jocasta. Antigone accompanied her father to Colonus, where he dies, to meet with her uncle Creon. When Antigone returns she finds her brothers fighting over the thrown, neither are successful in that they both kill one another. Creon takes over the Crown in the absence of a proper ruler and declares that Polynices will not receive a burial, while giving full military honors to Eteocles. When Antigone disobeys his order, he feels that to keep public order he must punish his niece by confining her to a subterranean place till death. What he had not realized was that his son, Haemon, had so loved his cousin that he would follow her to his own demise. (ORO, 5^th entry)

"Antigone"  The Oxford Companion to World mythology. David Leeming. Oxford University Press, 2004. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  Central Washington University.  28 October 2010  <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t208.e100>

Dramaturgy One

The play selected is Antigone by Sophocles. We will be using the R.C. Jebb translation. A link to the text can be found below. 
The original text was written about 442 B.C.E. and the translation being used was published in 1893. 




According to Oxford Reference Online Antigone is "A beautiful woman; a woman who defies authority" which is something that is still relevant to todays society. 






Text.
http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/antigone.html


"Richard Claverhouse Jebb." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Tues. 27 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Claverhouse_Jebb>.


"Antigone." Oxford Reference Online. Oxford UP. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. <http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezp.lib.cwu.edu>.

Test Post

This is just my first test posting for my theatre history blog.