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Antigone (2022)

3 September – 24 September

Inua Ellams, after Sophocles.

A blistering retelling of the epic story from the writer of Barber Shop Chronicles, Inua Ellams and directed by Max Webster.
Antigone (2022)

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Reviews

Daily Telegraph

"SOPHISTICATED and STYLISHLY STAGED, Inua Ellams pours a provocative gallon of petrol on the play’s eternal flame. Proof that Sophocles’s fiery drama is a scalding play for today."

The Guardian

"An incredibly DYNAMIC production with a YOUTHFUL ENERGY, a striking lead in Zainab Hasan, and plenty of wow in its stagecraft. The throb and thrill of the staging is BEGUILING, along with the clean visual magnificence of Leslie Travers’s set design."

The Arts Desk

"The strength of Antigone as a political thriller is enthusiastically embraced by Inua Ellams. Language is relished: BRUTAL, LYRICAL, SLY as the occasion demands."

Time Out

"Zainab Hasan's performance as Antigone is captivating, full of boldness and inner conflict. This is theatre that sits in direct conversation with its times, and IT'S EXHILARATING."

Broadway World

"Antigone feels both historically epic and refreshingly new. A feat of THEATRICAL EXCELLENCE that boldly dissects faith and freedom."

iNews

"New-minted, fearsomely contemporary and blisteringly urgent. It is evenings like this that theatre lovers live for."

Evening Standard

"Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante’s hard-edged, grime-inflected music and Carrie-Anne Ingrouille’s expressive choreography give an eloquent gestural language of struggle and hope, tender embrace and furious defiance."

Financial Times

"The script bristles with topical references. Max Webster and Jo Tyabji’s staging is most potent in its choral work, matching Ellams’s lyrical gift, and bringing great care for spiritual ritual and a still sense of love, loss and contemplation to the centre of this whirling, HIGHLY-CHARGED play."

All That Dazzles

"Truly incredible direction along with stunning choreography makes this TRULY REMARKABLE to watch. POWERFUL and THOUGHT-PROVOKING, undoubtedly the best production of Regent Park Open Air Theatres 90th anniversary season."

City AM

"As the sun sets on the Open Air Theatre, the Jack Knowles's lighting works to dramatic effect, in perfect harmony with the story’s stark realities."

Culture Whisper

"Playwright and poet Inua Ellams has not only modernised Sophocles’ great tragedy, he’s turned the 2,000-year-old story into a state-of-the-nation drama about contemporary Britain."

Gay Times

"Zainab Hasan (Antigone) is superb and Tony Jayawardena (Creon) excellent. Antigone's portrayal of Islam is unlike any we’ve seen on the stage before – and all the better for it. A BOLD and POWERFUL social commentary."

Lost in Theatreland

"Nadeem Islam’s Polyneices is UTTERLY ENTHRALLING. He is an utterly empathetic character, portrayed with utter integrity. To put it simply, ANTIGONE IS A MUST-SEE.”

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