Antigone and the social weight of ritual. A contemporary staging
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34624/fb.v0i21.41411Keywords:
Burial, Justice, Denied rite, Greek theater, Contemporary sceneAbstract
The burial rite of Antigone at the beginning of the tragedy of Sophocles raises a series of interpretative problems that affect both the act itself and the social weight of the denied rite. In fact, it is undeniable that the confrontation between Antigone and Creon is marked by various political, social and religious aspects; it is equally undeniable that the burial rite was perceived as a fundamental step to “let go” of the dead into the afterlife. And precisely this rite marks a border that is at once political, religious and cultural, capable of unleashing the wrath of Creon and the piety of Antigone. The rite by Antigone recomposes the fracture between the living and the dead, and among the living, recomposes justice. Thus, the rite draws the line between the just and the unjust, between the decision in your own name or in the name of the collective, between the living and the dead. The limit, however, although firm, in the case of Sophocles strives to maintain its contours, remains blurred to the eye and, although strongly marked by the rite (fulfilled or not), turns out to be labile. To understand the ritual of the gesture of Antigone in the contemporary scene we will analyze the Antigone with the direction of I. Papas of 2005 in the Greek theater of Syracuse.
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References
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