Many thanks for sharing this Toby. Never really appreciated how the choice of Antigone fitted into Hegel's account but on reflection the play seems to be an appropriate choice. The form of the play as tragedy (rather than drama) makes perfect sense: both Creon and Antigone are acting in accordance with their prescribed social roles, but in following the rules to they bring about their own destruction. This is where the play seems to grasp the dialectical principle of something changing into its opposite as a result of internal contradiction - in the case of the Ethical Order where Antigone (representing the Family) is pitted against Creon (representing the Polis).
I had the pleasure of seeing Rami Malek play Oedipus at The Old Vic recently. The plays are new to me and I found The Vic's version very good (although I feel that the team really should have made a film instead as their staging was very filmic).
Oedipus's gouging of his own eyes is such a powerful metaphor - although I think we must always dare to see - and Antigone's final comforting of her father in the wilderness was very charmingly portrayed in the performance.
I found myself close to tears by the end and I am a cynical old brute.
Many thanks for sharing this Toby. Never really appreciated how the choice of Antigone fitted into Hegel's account but on reflection the play seems to be an appropriate choice. The form of the play as tragedy (rather than drama) makes perfect sense: both Creon and Antigone are acting in accordance with their prescribed social roles, but in following the rules to they bring about their own destruction. This is where the play seems to grasp the dialectical principle of something changing into its opposite as a result of internal contradiction - in the case of the Ethical Order where Antigone (representing the Family) is pitted against Creon (representing the Polis).
Thank you Digby, you put that better than I did.
I had the pleasure of seeing Rami Malek play Oedipus at The Old Vic recently. The plays are new to me and I found The Vic's version very good (although I feel that the team really should have made a film instead as their staging was very filmic).
Oedipus's gouging of his own eyes is such a powerful metaphor - although I think we must always dare to see - and Antigone's final comforting of her father in the wilderness was very charmingly portrayed in the performance.
I found myself close to tears by the end and I am a cynical old brute.
Hats off to cast and crew!