Antigone

Antigone is defiant. She does what Creon’s decision as a statesman, the freshly crowned ruler of Thebes, has forbidden on punishment of death: she buries her brother Polynices, whose body had been abandoned outside the city to be devoured by birds. Creon is outraged by Antigone’s severe affront. From his point of view, Polynices is a traitor who led a bloody civil war against Thebes and killed his own brother Eteocles in single combat. Antigone invokes the law of the gods that “every dead person has the sacred right” to a grave. Creon counters by insisting on the rule of law, that his word as ruler is irrevocable. He shows strength by condemning Antigone to death and having her walled up alive. The unrest in Thebes increases. Creon’s son Haimon, who is Antigone’s fiancé, sides with the rebels. Creon is besieged from all sides, but his understanding arrives too late. ANTIGONE was once described by Hegel as “one of the most sublime, in all respect most perfect artworks of all time.” It now appears in Cologne in a production by the Belgian director Lies Pauwels, whose equally poetic and political creations have gained her an international reputation.