October 19, 2008
The Burial At Thebes, Seamus Heaney’s adaptation of Sophocles Greek Tragedy, Antigone, is beautifully written; its lyrical dialogue apparently born for musical accompaniment. Perhaps this is why in 2004, for the first time in his life, Heaney allowed his work to be used as a Libretto.
Written in 442 BC, the story of Antigone remains timeless – charged with the very same social and political issues civilized man has struggled ever since to resolve. Thankfully, Burial shares these themes - Love, family, and war; capital punishment, unfair imprisonment; politics versus religion; dictatorship versus democracy; the views of the young versus the views of the old - all of which are as relevant today as they were two and half thousand years ago.
Despite some interesting costume and set design (Thebian military uniforms akin to that of a war-torn African country) Derek Walcott’s production is largely unsuccessful.
The cast, consisting of several singers, an actor, a magician, and one dancer, are all clearly very talented, although the more enunciated, staccato, singing styles of Brian Green’s Creon (Baritone) or Andy Morton’s Haemon (Tenor) lent themselves better to Heaney’s Libretto than the vowel-heavy warbling of sisters Antigone (Idit Arad, Soprano) and Ismene (Andrea Baker, Mezzo Soprano). That said, the singers were all overshadowed by the more emotionally committed performance of actor John Joyce Guard - playing a Guard, strangely enough - and to a lesser degree Magician, John Van Der Put, who delivered some of the more expositional dialogue while delivering some of the play's special effects.
It wasn’t all bad: even though on this occasion Dominique Le Gendre’s score failed to enhance Heaney’s words or inspire passionate delivery from the cast, in the rare moments where singers seemed to actually care about their respective predicaments Heaney’s modern yet faithful approach to Antigone shone its way through.
Written in 442 BC, the story of Antigone remains timeless – charged with the very same social and political issues civilized man has struggled ever since to resolve. Thankfully, Burial shares these themes - Love, family, and war; capital punishment, unfair imprisonment; politics versus religion; dictatorship versus democracy; the views of the young versus the views of the old - all of which are as relevant today as they were two and half thousand years ago.
Despite some interesting costume and set design (Thebian military uniforms akin to that of a war-torn African country) Derek Walcott’s production is largely unsuccessful.
The cast, consisting of several singers, an actor, a magician, and one dancer, are all clearly very talented, although the more enunciated, staccato, singing styles of Brian Green’s Creon (Baritone) or Andy Morton’s Haemon (Tenor) lent themselves better to Heaney’s Libretto than the vowel-heavy warbling of sisters Antigone (Idit Arad, Soprano) and Ismene (Andrea Baker, Mezzo Soprano). That said, the singers were all overshadowed by the more emotionally committed performance of actor John Joyce Guard - playing a Guard, strangely enough - and to a lesser degree Magician, John Van Der Put, who delivered some of the more expositional dialogue while delivering some of the play's special effects.
It wasn’t all bad: even though on this occasion Dominique Le Gendre’s score failed to enhance Heaney’s words or inspire passionate delivery from the cast, in the rare moments where singers seemed to actually care about their respective predicaments Heaney’s modern yet faithful approach to Antigone shone its way through.