Performances

Antigone - Sophocles

After King Oedipus was exiled from the city of Thebes when he learned that he had committed incest and patricide, his younger son Eteokles claimed that the kingship belonged to him, exiling his older brother Polyneikes. Polyneikes then attacked Thebes with a strong army, but neither son won because they killed each other in the battlefield. The new Theban king, Creon, declares that Eteokles will be buried and honored as a hero while Polyneikes' body will be left to rot and be eaten by dogs in disgrace; the penalty for trying to bury the body is death. Hearing this news, an angry Antigone insists that her brother's body must be buried so that his spirit can rest in peace, in spite of the cautious advice of her younger sister, Ismene. Creon, stunned by the fact that a woman would dare to disobey his orders, he imprisons both Antigone and Ismene, the latter as an accomplice, declaring that they shall be executed. Sophocles deals with the question whether the unwritten laws, which found the ethical existence of a society, can carry more weight than the written laws of the State. The conflict between Antigone and Creon takes the dimensions of a double tragedy. The two opponents refuse to compromise because each one acts obeying to its own duty, believing it as infallible having a universal validity.