Antigone is radical reimagining of Sophocles’ tragedy, merging the physical poetry of Tanztheater with spoken word and original text. The production rediscovers the ideas within the play through a deeply human, visceral performance that speaks to the unresolved dilemmas of our time.
A lucid and emotional, merciless and heartfelt examination of the alienations within and without us.
At a time when diplomacy falters, when conflicts rage on without resolution and when leaders justify oppressive laws to maintain power, the play Antigone feels strikingly contemporary. Øyen’s production is a a reflection on our present moment, an urgent meditation on conscience and dignity in the face of law and violence. In his own words: “We do not simply restage Antigone. We strip it to its essence. Not just the words, but the weight of them. Not just the conflict, but the cost.”
On stage, Winter Guests perform alongside longtime artists from Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal, including Nazareth Panadero, Julie Shanahan and Héléna Pikon. The ensemble embodies not one Antigone but a chorus of identities, what Øyen calls a woman in struggle.
Rooted on the legacy of Tanztheater , the performance language is highly physical and emotionally charged. Movement and speech trade weight. Lists of names remember those lost to violence. Quiet testimony sits beside images that cut like edits, and moments of collective address bring the audience into the circle. Bodies speak as powerfully as language.
An intense and visceral reflection on the figure of the Sophoclean heroine, reinterpreted in a physical, theatrical, and cinematic way.
The stage is simple - an amphitheater built by seven wooden walls that hold the space and recall the gates of Thebes where Antigone plays out. They reshape the playing field and serve as surfaces for live- camera images. Martin Flack’s lighting keeps the environment in motion, while costumes by Stine Sjøgren and scenography by Åsmund Færavaag remain poetic, stripped back and immediate.
A set design as simple as it is ingenious
Demanding and immersive, political without didacticism and lyrical without ornament, Antigone asks what it means to act when law and justice part ways. It is both a lament for broken systems and a call to recognize our shared humanity.
Øyen’s Antigone is a profound, layered, and formally bold work. It is a challenge to theater itself, an invitation to feel before understanding, and a tribute to the still-living power of myth.
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