In their production of Antigone, UCL Drama Society proved that reaching the incredible dramatic tension set by antique playwright Sophocles was well within their reach. Carried by an extremely talented cast, the show had the audience captivated from the opening scene where Antigone and Ismene, played by Aza Too and Venus Fung, are torn apart in a heart wrenching argument.
Unwilling to follow Creon’s order not to bury one of her deceased brothers despite the death penalty threat, the eponymous character’s courage and moral virtue sparkle, contrasting her older sister’s more fearful attitude.
The background soundtrack of unsettling violin basses grew more ominous as the plot developed , contributing brilliantly to the palpable tension.
Nathan Wong did a fabulous job in portraying Creon, the proud and overtly stubborn governor who refuses to listen to the voice of reason and pays the high price for it. When Creon discovers the deathly consequences of his actions Wong’s cries of pain resonated within the awkwardly small and constricted Bloomsbury Studio.
The audience also enjoyed the poetry of the mask dynamic orchestrated by the play’s director, and former Students’ Union President, Mary McHarg. As she is about to die, Antigone is handed a mask by the Chorus akin to their own. In this well staged moment, Antigone is invited into their world of shadows, marking a poignant crescendo to the classic tragedy.
One prominent shortcoming throughout the play was the director’s choice to incorporate crass comic relief: the Soldier who announces to Creon that the brother’s body has been buried, and later brings him Antigone in handcuffs. The Soldier’s exaggerated cockney-ish accent and jokes to the audience seemed unnecessary, temporarily breaking the astute dramatic tension built throughout the course of the play. Like Creon in the scenes, I could not help but feel a little irritated by the abrupt change of atmosphere.
The adaptation of the tragedy in late 1980s Hong Kong, which was then a British territory, is also not very convincing and doesn’t add much to the storytelling. The setting is mentioned at the very beginning of the performance in a TV announcement, and then features rarely throughout the rest of the play. This makes the interplay of the characters’ personal struggles and a broader context largely intangible.
Reaching out to the producers after the show, I realized Antigone and Ismene spoke Cantonese to each other whilst Teiresias communicated in Mandarin with Creon. Whilst this is an interesting layer, it was not executed with enough clarity and reveals itself exclusionary to a non-Chinese audience. Also, the use of subtitles projected on the wall only for Mandarin made it even more confusing and harder for any type of broader message to be conveyed.
The set design was also perplexing. Whilst it did evoke the period and place in which the director chose to set the play, the rice cooker, Sriracha sauce and other condiments hardly reminded the audience of a governor’s palace.
The director’s full use of the space available in the minuscule Bloomsbury Studio, which doesn’t even have a properly elevated stage, must however be applauded.
Overall, the audience had a great time, and I would like once again to congratulate the actors for their mastery of these complex roles.
