... then the play. Jean Anouilh succeeds in making Greek Tragedy accessible to the Man In The Street by the classically (sorry about that) simple device of presenting the Chorus as a 'modern' figure in lounge suit setting up and commenting on an action taking place thousands of years ago. In this respect Noel Wilman is not unlike Anton Walbrook in La Ronde, which may well be where Anouilh got the idea - La Ronde was released in 1950, nine years before Anouilh's take on Ancient Greece. Just under half the running time is taken up by a duologue between Basil Sydney's Creon and Dorothy Tutin's Antigone and such is the quality of the acting from both that this holds the attention completely. Those with fond memories of British films of the 1950s will be intrigued to find Sam Kydd engaging Tutin in a second, less lengthy duologue, as the Ist guard whilst David McCallum was still finding his feet as an actor. Overall a fine production and painless introduction to Greek tragedy.
2 Reviews
Origins
iansprawson3 April 2017
Just a small expansion on a point raised in the previous review: Anouilh's Antigone was first performed as a stage play in 1944 - the WW2 background is important. The question of whether Anouilh was influenced by La Ronde still stands, however, as that play was first performed in 1920, although written some 20 years earlier. (No marking given as I have not seen the production and I assume it is not available.)
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