ARCHIVES 2018 / ANTIGONE

After Oedipus's death, Eteocles and Polynices inherit the kingdom of Thebes on the condition that they rule alternately. But when it comes time for Eteocles to cede power to his brother, he refuses, forcing Polynices to raise an army. The brothers kill each other. Their uncle Creon's first decision as a ruler is to honour the memory of Eteocles and to leave Polynices unburied. Antigone cannot accept it. Beyond the judgment of society, her brother deserves to rest in dignity, and she will do anything to honour him with one simple gesture: sprinkling dust on his body. That is why this symbolic text so strongly touched the actors-inmates of the Avignon-Le Pontet prison, “who deeply understood this idea that a man remains a man, regardless of what he's done.” This is director Olivier Py's third creation with them.

L'Arche is publisher and theatrical agent of the text represented.

Olivier Py
A director for the theatre, the opera, and cinema, a dramatist, but also an actor and poet, Olivier Py is a key figure of modern theatre. Director of the Centre dramatique national in Orléans, then of the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, he became in 2013 the first theatre director to be appointed director of the Festival d'Avignon since Jean Vilar. As an engaged artist, he has directed many plays which use the language of theatre to put politics centre stage. On or off the stage, Olivier Py regularly comments on cultural policy in France and Europe, writes against the rise of all forms of fascism, and denounces all forms of social and humanitarian injustices. As part of its policy to make culture accessible to everyone, the Festival d'Avignon has developed since 2004 a partnership with the prison of Avignon-Le Pontet. In 2014, on Olivier Py's initiative, this partnership intensified with the opening of a workshop he co-directed with Enzo Verdet. By directing with and for the prisoners Prometheus Unbound, Hamlet, and Antigone, he gave the opportunity to the actors, with the help of the prison administration, to perform outside the prison.