Antigone

by Sophocles
Premiere: 28.03.2024

"A great tragedy told in a compact way." 32-year-old audience member

"Classical theater prepared for today." 65-year-old audience member

Antigone buries her brother Polyneikes and resolutely opposes her uncle King Creon, who has just come to power. After the war between the brothers Eteocles and Polyneikes over the city of Thebes, he declares the attacker Polyneikes a traitor to the state and allows his body to rot unburied by law. The grieving Antigone accepts the death penalty with her decision and becomes a rebel against the male authorities. Her uncle feels threatened and passes a sentence that has tragic consequences - for everyone.
Sophocles' "Antigone" is both a rousing family epic and a contemporary political thriller: is there any way for the Theban royal family to escape the fate of violence? How can the constant conflicts between divine and human laws, social order and civil disobedience in the name of universal human rights, female resistance and patriarchy ever be resolved? In the translation of one of the most important German poets, Friedrich Hölderlin, director Julia Hölscher brings this poetic and eloquent version to the stage with a large ensemble.