The blog is going away but the reviews are not. You can find them here in the online print edition.
Home > ATLarts > Archives > 2008 > October > 14 > Entry
‘Antigone’ @ Georgia Shakespeare
THEATER REVIEW. “Antigone.” Grade: B. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. 2 p.m. Sundays. $15-$40. Through Nov. 2. Georgia Shakespeare, Oglethorpe University. 404-264-0020, gashakespeare.org. Bottom Line: Contemporary music brings clarity to ancient tale.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Shakespeare’s Richard Garner and Atlanta composer Kendall Simpson have found the music in Sophocles’ “Antigone,” a tragedy about pride and honor, love and loss, grief and revenge.
This is not to say that their new play with music follows the formula of musical comedy — or that it should.
With its cinematic battlefield sequences, “Antigone” reimagines the ancient tale in contemporary garb and gives it a relentlessly political, ripped-from-the-headlines quality that is fresh and affecting.
As King Creon holds a press conference to announce that warfare has ended, his dutiful wife at his elbow, you can almost hear the click of cameras. Antigone wears a school-girl’s uniform and looks like a kid you might recognize from your neighborhood. As designed by Kat Conley (sets) and Mike Post (lighting), Thebes is a gritty urban world of chain-link fences and violent red light.
Garner’s world premiere adaptation, which runs through Nov. 2, is a showcase of fluid storytelling, stark visuals and consistently strong performances. Somehow, though, it doesn’t seem quite finished. It’s as if Simpson ran out of songs after the first act.
But this structural imbalance doesn’t diminish the impact of a work of art that extracts its terrifying beauty from a king’s blind arrogance. If anything, Garner’s crisp direction and Simpson’s heartfelt songs render the text in a style that’s fluent and plainly told, if not always rhythmic or melodic.
Simpson’s New Age-y harp and piano solos have a canned quality. From time to time, you can hear echoes of Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” or a direct lyric quotation from “Pacific Overtures.” There is no live music, except for the soprano saxophone that Eugene H. Russell IV plays with scorching passion. The rest of the score is recorded.
Someone had the idea of turning Hamlet’s “What A Piece of Work is Man” speech into lyrics — not a bad choice considering how Antigone and her love interest, Haemon, recall Ophelia and Hamlet. Or Romeo and Juliet, for that matter. But then the same lyrics are trotted out for the finale.
So here’s what happens. Just a few minutes after dying in battle, Polyneices (Russell) stands up to explain who’s who in the story. To the modern ear, it’s a nice conceit that gives order to Sophocles.
In Antigone’s eyes, her brother is a hero who deserves a burial; to the king, he is a traitor who should rot on the battlefield. Antigone is played by Russell’s real-life wife, Naima Carter Russell, while Antigone’s sister, Ismene, is portrayed by Koqunia LaTrice Forté. Both are excellent.
You’d expect Garner to find strong singers to play the leads. What’s remarkable is the way his Shakespearean actors flex their vocal muscles. As Haemon, Joe Knezevich’s vocal style is so lush and romantic that you want him to rush right out and get a lead part in in a musical. Who knew?
As Creon’s wife, Eurydice, the dynamic Megan McFarland is under-used. She could sing all night and call it day. Neal A. Ghant (as the chorus and messenger) is steady and focused. Enoch King’s Keystone Cops-style guard, one of the few comic strokes in the entire play, brings a welcome dose of humor.
In Shakespeare, music is often invoked as the moody food of lovers. Here it is the coinage of heroic figures forced to gorge on sorrow and grief. For the children of Oedipus, it plays like a final harrowing lullaby.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Theater
Comments
By K. N.
October 14, 2008 5:00 PM | Link to this
I was able to attend Opening Night and was engaged the entire play. I felt the music (esp the sisters’ duet) added an enormous amount to the character building and the emotions of the play - it was nice to have the musical quality to a normally all dialogue performance. I look forward to Richard and Kendall’s next project. I agree also that the cast was unbeatable!
By Ayn Z.
October 14, 2008 7:17 PM | Link to this
Bravo — great review. And Bravo as well to the magnificent cast, director and composer. What an excellent adaption… Garner is brilliant. Both Garner and Simpson nailed it.
By Brenda K
October 15, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this
I agree wholeheartedly with KN’s and Ayn Z’s comments. I’ve been subscribing to Georgia Shakespeare for several years and this is one of the very best performances they have done. Garner is indeed brilliant, as is the cast. They always leave me just a little hungry for more, so I can’t wait for the next performance! OH that June weren’t such a long time from now!