Antigone is the first of Sophocles' three Theban plays but covers the final act of the Oedipus tragedy.

Following the death of Oedipus, the King of Thebes, his sons Polynices and Eteocles share the throne, ruling in alternate years. When Eteocles refuses to stand down at the end of his year, Polynices is exiled and a civil war ensues. As our play opens we discover that both brothers are dead and their sisters, Antigone and Ismene, are in mourning. Creon, their tyrannical uncle, is the new king and desperate to assert his authority over the war-ravaged city. He makes a chilling proclamation that threatens to tear family and state apart.

The play addresses the situation on several levels. How will the king’s courtiers deal with the situation? How will his family reconcile their split loyalties? Where does this leave the common soldier and the townspeople of Thebes? We see the different groups retreat into isolated bubbles, protecting their own interests and closing their eyes to the wider picture. We see the women dismissed as irrelevant until they find their voice and assert themselves. And through it all we can see an awful inevitability: this is not going to end well.

The central story is movingly sad, but you will find light relief in the unctuous elders, the irreverent soldiers and the townswomen’s earthy common-sense. And above it all, there is Antigone, the embodiment of all that is pure in the human soul. The story resonates no less powerfully now than it did 2,500 years ago.

Hear our chairman, Steve Chadwick, talking about Antigone in an interview with Radio Suffolk - click here.

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