Timeless Tyrants Beware - Antigone Saves Summer Theatre
“She’s young, she’d much rather live than die- but it can’t be helped,” Antigone’s Chorus decrees. One by one, the trio of Tyler Wold, Zakiya Jas, and Louise Reid Ritchie lays out the gruesome events of the piece. She will die. He will die. Hope may die. “That’s the lot- now for the play.”
With Tallahassee just saying good-bye to productions of Jane Austen based Lizzy, Darcy & Jane and the timeless Little Mermaid, perhaps the time is best for a dark political tragedy. Though many will comment on the harsh timely-quality of the production, director Jeff Mandel and Polyphonic Bonsai have been working on Antigone for the past year. This isn’t Sophocles Greek tragedy, be warned- you’re coming to sit in the political upheaval of Jean Anouilh’s adaptation.
It’s certainly a testament to Mandel’s directing that he can take a cozy space like Mickee Faust’s Schnittman Theatre and fill it with such themes. With a strong cast, minimal tech, and a single-act production of such a heavy show, there’s barely room to breathe. That isn’t a bad thing.
“What a king you could make if only men were animals,” Katherine Becker spits at her Creon, Duncan Hoehn. This duo spends half of the production on-stage together, in a Platonic debate over the show’s central conceit- whether there is a moral law over a ruling sort. Hoehn’s Stalin-esque ruler, whose paranoia rules at the start, is a humanized and fragile Creon. Along with the slowly cracking Antigone given by Becker, the duo feels set to explode. “I think she’s right, but he’s really making great points,” Becker said. Her Antigone is a sultry and enticing thrust towards moral rule, abandoning some fanatic renditions of the character- Becker’s Antigone is one you root for when nobody is watching, because you know she’s right but are terrified to agree.
The supporting cast, along with the chorus, sustain a quick-paced and gruesome show. Mickey Clickner is a stand-out, with well-timed quips and great facial humor to brighten the dark show even a touch. Clickner’s scenes as a guard juxtaposed much of the show’s rule vs. morality, something thrust back under our noses in the close.
A touch Mandel came up with, to split the chorus into three roles, paid off immensely. Tyler Wold’s is a stoic prophet, while stunning Zakiya Jas is full of energy and murderous passion (with a speech outlining tragedy that belongs in the books), and Louise Reid Ritchie steps into the action as a figure of impending destiny and humanity. Each performer knows their abilities and plays them up, making the chorus not a framing device, but more vital to the soul of the show.
Mandel’s performance should not be written off as an avant-garde Mickee Faust piece, a summer theatre fluff, or even one of Tallahassee’s amateur productions. Antigone is a lethal threat in a small space, one crawling out of the walls and demanding your attention. Antigone is the show of the summer, one that feels like reading Sartre or seeing No Exit in the West End. Antigone will silence your Facebook political rants and give you the answers. Antigone will haunt you as theatre should.
Antigone plays July 29th-31st at the Schnittman Theatre. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.