'Antigone' will be performed by LucTeam Theatre at Việt Nam Youth Theatre on November 6 and 14. Photos LucTeam Theatre

HÀ NỘI – LucTeam Theatre will be the first team performing Antigone on Saturday under a theatre project to popularise the work by Sophocles – one of classical Athens' greatest playwrights.

Antigone was written by Sophocles in the 5th century BC. Antigone belongs to the family of Oedipus, and the story takes root from the scramble of her two brothers who both want the power of the crown.

Both die in battle, and successor King Creon decides that the brother who protected the city must be buried, while the other brother, who attacked the city, is not worthy of a grave. 

But when Antigone disobeys the law and buries her brother, she defies the King’s law and is sentenced to death.

The play is about this ever-recurrent conflict between positive law and natural law, between authority and universal order. It exposes the dangers of absolute rule and implies that there must be an alternative order to tyranny.

“I want young audiences to enjoy the play,” said director Trần Lực, from LucTeam Ttheatre.

“The play is really a tragedy focusing on conflicting ideologies. Antigone and the king do not recognise that they are violating the other’s moral law through their actions and demands because they consider their own way to be paramount.”

Lực stages the play in an expressionist style, which has proved popular with audiences.

Antigone will be performed with a live music band at 8pm at Việt Nam Youth Theatre on November 6 and 14.

The Antigone project is funded by the Goethe Institute, featuring six production teams to perform the play until March 2022.

The project was initiated by the Goethe Institute who invited Vietnamese artists in Hà Nội and HCM City to explore the meaning of the story for Vietnamese audiences.

“Antigone has inspired artists and cultural creators in the west and east to reflect on human nature and our place in society,” said Wilfried Eckstein, director of the institute.

“It is about loyalty to family and state, about human dignity and social cohesion, about the course of history, and the importance of the individual in society. Or is everything predetermined by fate, after all?”

The project's participating artists are veteran Bùi Như Lai, as well as younger artists Hà Nguyên Long, Hà Thúy Hằng, Trần Minh Hải, and HCM City-based Lê Thị Hòa An.

Six Antigone performances will be performed through to March next year, using contemporary dance and multi-media. - VNS