EIF 2015 Tix on sale

Dec 1 2014 | By More

Full Antigone casting announced

Tickets for the production of Antigone instigated by and staring Juliette Binoche, which will form a part of EIF 2015, have gone on public sale as full  casting details have been announced.

The production, with Belgian director Ivo van Hove at the helm and in a new translation by Canadian poet Anne Carson, plays the King’s Theatre from Sunday 9 to Saturday 22 August 2015. Tickets are priced from £17 to £48.

Juliette Binoche. Photo: Patrick Swirc

Juliette Binoche. Photo: Patrick Swirc

Sophocles’ original play was written two and a half thousand years ago, soon after Athens had defeated the attacking Persians. Yet the play which van Hove says has “the explosiveness of a nuclear bomb” is ripe for modern interpretation and has been seen in several revivals in Edinburgh over the last decade.

Antigone, the daughter of an incestuous marriage between her mother Jocasta and her half-brother Oedipus, defies her uncle King Creon by burying her dead brother, Polynices. He has been decreed a traitor after Thebes’ civil war and, against all tradition, his corpse has been left out beyond the city walls to rot and be eaten as carrion.

This tenacious act of defiance triggers a cycle of destruction. Antigone can be interpreted as a call for forgiveness from the victors, to allow divisions to heal, or as an attack on the kind of tyranny which forces its citizens to obey while giving them no legitimate channel for dissent.

According to Frank Feitle, director of co-producers Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, the idea for the project originally came from Binoche.

an ideal director

He said: “This project originated from a discussion with Juliette about her desire to work in English and she asked whether I could find her a play, a director and produce such a piece. My first point of call was Toni Racklin at the Barbican and we quickly agreed that Ivo van Hove would be an ideal director.”

Besides Binoche in the title role, the production will feature Patrick O’Kane, Kirsty Bushell as Antigone’s sister Ismene, and Samuel Edward-Cook as Haimon, Antigone’s betrothed and Creon’s son. Kathryn Pogson will play Creon’s wife Eurydice; Finbar Lynch the blind prophet Teiresias and Obi Abili will play the Guard. Pogson, Lynch and Abili will all double as the Chorus.

Ivo van Hove. Photo: Jan Versweyveld

Ivo van Hove. Photo: Jan Versweyveld

Ivo van Hove’s recent production of A View from the Bridge was a major hit at the Young Vic in London and is transferring to the Wyndam’s Theatre in the London West End for a limited run in spring 2015.

Speaking of the production of Antigone, van Hove said: “While searching for a play for our first collaboration, Juliette and I very quickly agreed that Antigone would be the right artistic challenge for both of us.

“The play itself has the explosiveness of a nuclear bomb. It deals with all possible relationships: man against woman, political against ethical leadership, the laws of society against the right of the individual, family and its unbreakable blood ties.

“Antigone should resonate with everyone the world over.”

The production receives its world premiere at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg in February 2015 followed by the UK premiere at the Barbican in March 2015. It then embarks on a major international tour including runs in Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris, Recklinghausen, the 2015 Edinburgh International Festival and New York.

Listings:

Antigone
King’s Theatre, 2 Leven Street EH3 9LQ
Sunday 9 – Saturday 22 August 2015. Not Mons, or Wed 13.
Evenings 7.30 pm; Saturday matinee: 2.30pm.
Expected Running time 1 hour 45 minutes.
For more information and tickets: http://www.eif.co.uk/2015/antigone

ENDS

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