On-line: Antigone - Lonely Planet

Our daily existence has been turned on its head in 2020. So why not subvert the very bones of some of our most sacred theatrical works too? The agent provocateur of Greek stage, Lena Kitsopoulou, dared to. She spun Sophocles’ ancient tragedy Antigone into a contemporary comedy that explores the age-old battle between our in-built moral codes and the laws of the state. Not well-versed on this 2,400 year old plot? Allow us to catch you up: things go from bad to worse for our doomed heroine Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, when she takes it upon herself to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial, in explicit defiance of a decree by the new king of Thebes, Creon. First staged in New York four years ago, Kitsopoulou’s “existential comedy” Antigone - Lonely Planet sees four skiers (yep, you read right) give lectures where they make own life parallels with Sophocles’ characters and plots. Does Kitsopoulou pull it off? We’ll let you be the judge of that. You can watch the complete production (in Greek with English sub-titles) as part of Onassis Stegi’s hearty buffet of free on-line lockdown culture, We Stay Close, Not Closed.