Bitef

a clasic as a springboard

It is quite common these days to find the classics being used as a springboard for theatrical experiment. One can easily see why: the audience can be assumed to have some knowledge of the original work, the actors can select from it the theme that suits their purpose and it usually provides them with a strong external framework In which they can freely move around. What differentiates the Freehold's version of the Sophocles »Antigone« from other similar experiments is that it seeks to complement the text rather than to displace it. Admittedly, the company seize to one particular Sophoclean theme (the conflict between the demands of the state and the instincts of the individual) to the exclusion of several others (such as Croon's own conflict with the gods and the power of Eros-Aphrodite). However, their use of mime and expressive gesture, song and non-verbalized sound is always illustrative rather than merely decorative; and at its best, as in the song in praise of man, the movement achieves a formal beauty that precisely echoes the rhythms of the speech.

Michael BiJllngton

»THE TIMES«

December, Ist 1969

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