Antigone

Acclaimed playwright Neil LaBute brings a fresh edge to the classic tale of a fierce young woman determined to stand up to authority—even at the price of her own life. Working from the 1944 text by French playwright Jean Anouilh—written during the occupation—LaBute asks the same question here as Anouilh did under the Nazis: what price must an individual be willing to pay to defend their beliefs? Antigone faces down her uncle, the dictator Creon, insisting on proper funeral rites and burial for her slain brother, something Creon has forbidden on pain of death. In this deadly battle of wills, Antigone, one of the great classical heroes of Greek tragedy, refuses to compromise, even to the point of self-destruction. In a troubled time, where autocracy is on the rise and the free expression of ideas are under assault, Antigone speaks for all those unwilling to give in and go along.