Please note that, as a mark of respect on the day of the funeral of Her Majesty The Queen, the performance of Antigone on Monday, 19 September has been cancelled. If you hold tickets for this performance, please visit our blog for more information.
A torn family. A hostile state. One heroic brother. One misguided son. One conflicted sister, and the second is on the run.
A blistering retelling of the epic story from the writer of Barber Shop Chronicles, Inua Ellams.
RICH, ALIVE and CAPTIVATING. This Antigone is an exemplary marriage of writer, company and creative team, at once entertaining, elucidating and accessible
City AM
Running time: 2hrs 30mins (incl interval)
Theatre is telling stories. Of all kinds and from as many lenses as possible. Through these stories we seek to inspire, entertain and challenge. In delivering work that asks questions about our ideas, attitudes and perceptions, some material may cause distress to some individuals, and whilst we don’t want to give away any spoilers, we do feel a duty to provide audiences with content advisory notes. Please click on the link below for our advisory note regarding this contemporary retelling of Antigone.
Guidance for Parents and Teachers
Guidance for Parents and Teachers
ANTIGONE
This new contemporary adaptation is most suitable for those aged 12+. It remains the responsibility of the parent/guardian in advance of purchase to make their own judgement as to the suitability of the show for their child, and more information about the production will be available as the season approaches. In any event, children under the age of 4 will not be admitted to the venue.
Read reviews
Show all reviewsDaily Telegraph
"SOPHISTICATED and STYLISHLY STAGED, Inua Ellams pours a provocative gallon of petrol on the play’s eternal flame. Proof that Sophocles’s fiery drama is a scalding play for today."
The Guardian
"An incredibly DYNAMIC production with a YOUTHFUL ENERGY, a striking lead in Zainab Hasan, and plenty of wow in its stagecraft. The throb and thrill of the staging is BEGUILING, along with the clean visual magnificence of Leslie Travers’s set design."
The Arts Desk
"The strength of Antigone as a political thriller is enthusiastically embraced by Inua Ellams. Language is relished: BRUTAL, LYRICAL, SLY as the occasion demands."
Time Out
"Zainab Hasan's performance as Antigone is captivating, full of boldness and inner conflict. This is theatre that sits in direct conversation with its times, and IT'S EXHILARATING."
Broadway World
"Antigone feels both historically epic and refreshingly new. A feat of THEATRICAL EXCELLENCE that boldly dissects faith and freedom."
iNews
"New-minted, fearsomely contemporary and blisteringly urgent. It is evenings like this that theatre lovers live for."
Evening Standard
"Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante’s hard-edged, grime-inflected music and Carrie-Anne Ingrouille’s expressive choreography give an eloquent gestural language of struggle and hope, tender embrace and furious defiance."
Financial Times
"The script bristles with topical references. Max Webster and Jo Tyabji’s staging is most potent in its choral work, matching Ellams’s lyrical gift, and bringing great care for spiritual ritual and a still sense of love, loss and contemplation to the centre of this whirling, HIGHLY-CHARGED play."
All That Dazzles
"Truly incredible direction along with stunning choreography makes this TRULY REMARKABLE to watch. POWERFUL and THOUGHT-PROVOKING, undoubtedly the best production of Regent Park Open Air Theatres 90th anniversary season."
City AM
"As the sun sets on the Open Air Theatre, the Jack Knowles's lighting works to dramatic effect, in perfect harmony with the story’s stark realities."
Culture Whisper
"Playwright and poet Inua Ellams has not only modernised Sophocles’ great tragedy, he’s turned the 2,000-year-old story into a state-of-the-nation drama about contemporary Britain."
Gay Times
"Zainab Hasan (Antigone) is superb and Tony Jayawardena (Creon) excellent. Antigone's portrayal of Islam is unlike any we’ve seen on the stage before – and all the better for it. A BOLD and POWERFUL social commentary."
Lost in Theatreland
"Nadeem Islam’s Polyneices is UTTERLY ENTHRALLING. He is an utterly empathetic character, portrayed with utter integrity. To put it simply, ANTIGONE IS A MUST-SEE.”
CREATIVE TEAM
- Michael 'Mikey J' Asante MBE – Composer
- Shanaé Chisholm – Casting Assistant
- Inua Ellams – Writer
- Barbara Houseman – Voice & Text and Season Associate Director
- Carrie-Anne Ingrouille – Choreographer
- Polly Jerrold – Casting Director
- Jack Knowles – Lighting Designer
- Emma Laxton – Sound Designer
- Ingrid Mackinnon – Season Associate: Intimacy Support
- Khadija Raza – Costume Designer
- Leslie Travers – Set Designer
- Jo Tyabji – Co-Director
- Kate Waters – Fight Director
- Max Webster – Director
CAST
- Pandora Colin – Eurydice
- Rhianna Dorris – Lyra
- Sandy Grierson – Aleksy
- Zainab Hasan – Antigone
- Nadeem Islam – Polyneices
- Abe Jarman – Eteocles
- Tony Jayawardena – Creon
- Oliver Johnstone – Haemon
- Munir Khairdin – Nikomedes/Cover Creon
- Susan Lawson-Reynolds – Commissioner
- Eli London – Tiresius
- Shazia Nicholls – Ismene
- Mervin Noronha – Chorus/ Dance Captain/ Cover Polyneices and Eteocles
- Razak Osman – Athan
- Joseph Prouse – Officer
- Nadia Sohawon – Kyria
- Riley Woodford – Strom
- Lydia Bakelmun – Cover Antigone/Ismene
- Josh Nkemdilim – Swing
- Caitlin South – Swing
