By Yusuf Yigit Topcu, First Year Theatre and Performance.
As a member of the play’s production team, I had the chance to interview the play’s writer and dramaturg Li Friess, director of the play Ed Buckley, and last but not least, the play’s producer and lead carpenter Chloe Firrell.
As my first question to Friess, I asked her what the original play is about for those who are not aware of the original version of this adaptation. She said that it is a play by Sophocles which follows the story of a young woman living in Thebes who accidentally becomes a martyr for a revolution. Thebes has just undergone a civil war and Polyneices, (Antigone’s brother), who fought on the losing side is killed. The king decrees that he won’t be given a religious burial, and story follows what happens afterwards.
When asked what inspired her to adapt this Greek tragedy into a 20th century setting, Friess explained that she is German and has always been interested in how the country’s history has affected different generations of her family. Friess said she has written a lot about her grandma (the person who inspired the character “Oma” in the play) and how growing up with the Nazis affected her.
During a visit to Berlin last year, seeing past pictures and reports of Stasi spies gathered her attention and that she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She also said that the plot of Antigone is timeless, especially the rebellions that happened against far right leaders in Ancient Greece, and it still resonates in the present time.
One of the areas I was most curious about was her inspiration for the characters. Friess shared: “My favourites are Oma and Mama (Polyneices mum) because they’re based on my own mother and grandmother. There are even audio recordings of my grandma that are used in the show.”
She said that the chain smoking, tough exterior, black coffee drinking “cheeky old lady” pops up a lot in her writing, and it is all her grandma. Adding that her grandma would be furious if she knew. I have to say that we can only hope and pray that Li’s grandmother never finds out because the Oma I have seen during rehearsals is definitely someone I would not want to upset!
She has also said that a couple of other characters are based on real people. Polyneices is based on a real East German boy who was shot and left to bleed to death in the dead zone for 24 hours. A fact which Friess says she found out about in a 1975 guide book about the Berlin Wall.
Creon is based on Honecker a bit, but also Patrick Bateman. And the fates are based on the Golden Girls. She said even Haemon is based on a video she has watched at the Stasi Museum of a man talking about being a border guard.
When I asked them about the challenges Friess, Buckley and Firell have faced during the making of the show they all pointed out different difficulties. Friess said that the research made her struggle the most,as there was so much information. She said that “I really endeavoured for the script to be as historically accurate as possible.” She has also said that she rearranged the timelines to fit the plot but every event and the world they take place in is completely real.
Whereas Buckley and Firell had complete different responses as they held different roles in the production team, as the show's director and producer respectively. Buckley said that the practical difficulties of directing a two hour play was what he found most challenging. He explained that prior to this show the longest show he has directed was 50 minutes. Buckley has also co-directed a couple of plays but with play of such length had its own challenges, such as “trying to see the scope of the whole play as everything has to be rehearsed out of order due to people’s availability.”
As the producer of the show Firrell had a different response and she said that as the play is being held in an external venue, the communication barriers were the most challenging as “sometimes you are receiving emails from five different people, not knowing who to email about what aspect of the production”. She also said that the show dates clashing with the exam period was a big barrier as the cast had to come in and rehearse during Easter.
Another aspect of this production that I was curious about was how Buckley as the director has aligned his vision with Friess, the play's writer, and what were some of the similarities and differences they have found during this process. Buckley said that “Me and Li probably argued a lot about this play, where we had different visions for different scenes.” He has said that his idea for this play was never an abstract performance but “only abstract in construction.” Buckley said that he loves theatre that is about people and actors' performances. During the rehearsals they heavily focused on characters and that those characters really c0me across. “Everything else around them is abstract as we were trying to re-create Berlin on stage and you can’t really do that in a naturalistic way.”
Finally when I asked them about their favourite moments during the making of the show Buckley said that the first full cast rehearsal was his favourite. He was worried that he would have to push people into contributing ideas, whereas everyone turned out to be ready to go, extremely enthusiastic, and that “everyone was bashing ideas”. This shared enthusiasm about the play was what really motivated him.
Whereas Firrell has said that the her favourite part of the production process was the auditions. In her words, “we got to see so much talent, we were so silly and we found Wills, the building that is the love of our lives with spinning chairs”.
With a strong historical background and having adapted from one of the most important tragedies ever written in theatre, Antigone 89 is definitely a show not to be missed. It was a great pleasure talking to the production team members about the play and getting to hear their perspective of making this play.
Antigone 89 is set to take the stage at the Loco Klub on the 28th and 29th of April.
