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Office of External Communications |
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Mike Emery |
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In a media era defined by images of religious fanatics dying for their causes and the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, it’s easy to forget that these headlines aren’t confined to the 21st century. Sophocles saw them coming a long time ago. “We’ve been wrestling with some of this stuff as long as people have been able to write it down,” said Jack Young, associate professor in the University of Houston’s School of Theatre & Dance, which is staging a five-show run of “Antigone,” beginning at 8 p.m. on Nov. 10 in the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts’ Lyndall Finley Wortham Theatre. Pitting man’s laws against nature’s, Sophocles' powerful tragedy tests the devotion of a sister against the will of an authoritarian leader, as the heroine Antigone defies the Theban ruler’s decree that her slain brother not be buried. “On the one hand, Antigone is fighting for certain things that we would find very appealing, in the sense that she is trying to take care of her brother who has been killed,” Young said. “And yet the fervor with which she charges after that is also a little scary, in that fundamentalist sense of someone’s being so obsessed with managing this world in a certain way that they’re willing to risk death themselves.” Audiences can expect a highly kinetic adaptation of the play, including a use of movement and close harmonies by the chorus that is vital and visceral, Young said. The 2 p.m. Sunday matinee on Nov. 19 will be followed by a 30-minute showcase featuring eight new graduate acting students, who were recruited from national auditions in New York and Chicago "This Backstage Peek is to give audience a little 'after-show aperitif,' a chance to see the actors in a different light,” Young said."
For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom. |
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