User:Taniarose/sandbox

Differences from Original Antigone This adaption of the original Antigone story takes place in war-ravaged Germany towards the end of the third Reich of World War II. An original prologue gives the audience the impression of this and illustrates the relevance of the play to post-war Germany; a pair of sisters returning home from an air-raid shelter hear cries from outside their home. While the Second Sister is eager to see who it is outside their door, the First Sister is hesitant. Eventually they emerge and discover their brother hanging from a meat hook on their porch. The Second Sister attempts to cut him down, but an SS Soldier appears and seeks to arrest them. The First Sister claims to not know the dead man, and informs the audience in a speech what the Second Sister will do. King Creon of Thebes reigns as Fuhrer and, unlike the original tragedy, is the instigator of the war between Argos and Thebes. Creon has murdered Polyneices for leaving Thebes' army and dubs him a traitor of the state, forbidding his burial. Eteocles, his brother, has died fighting in the war and receives a proper burial. Creon is a cruel leader whose main goal is the purification of the state, valuing power and victory over the livelihood of the people of Thebes. The clash between he and Antigone, and by extension the clash between war and peace, is illustrated with Brecht's insertion of several new lines of argumentative dialogue between the two characters.

Theatrical Style Brecht's Antigone is regarded as a style of epic theater. The feud between Creon and Antigone illustrates Brecht's forewarning of the corruption of a state whose leader lusts for power and war. Creon is the metaphorical envisioning of the wicked leader seeking the cleansing of Germany. However, Brecht implored his audience not to see Antigone as the embodiment of the German resistance as he had not written this adaption of Antigone to be a tribute for them. Rather than Antigone being simply a rewriting of an original play, Brecht envisioned the piece as being a new interpretive performance of the original play. He wanted the audience to develop their own understanding of the plot rather than to have the production instruct exactly what they were meant to see and understand. When giving the rights to different theaters for his adaption, Brecht would send them photographs of past productions as well as theatrical notes. He did this solely to supply theaters with general guidelines about, but he embraced each actor's portrayal adding a unique change to the performance.

References Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Mar., 1972), pp. 47-68

The Tulane Drama Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Nov., 1957), pp. 39-45