Antigone (not quite/quiet), directed by Mark Fleishman, runs at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio, from Wednesday September 18 to Saturday September 28.
The play is part of a five-year research project called Re-imagining Tragedy from Africa and the Global South (RETAGS) by the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies (CTDPS) – previously the Drama Department and the School of Dance.
The project is headed by Fleishman and Mandla Mbothwe and was made possible through funding by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation.
Part of the project involves the creation of four new “tragedies” with partners Magnet Theatre and the Baxter Theatre Centre.
Subtitled Ninganiki Okungcwele Ezinjeni which is isiXhosa for “Give not unto dogs sacred things”, Antigone (not quite/quiet), is not a production of Sophocles’ Antigone, but a series of responses to the original play.
“It engages with the concept of the aftermath: the tragedy of our particular aftermath in post-1994 South Africa and the aftermath of tragedy as a form,” says Fleishman.
“The broader research project proposes to take the concept of ‘tragedy’ – from the very beginnings of theatre in its European manifestation – and to reimagine it from a perspective in Africa, that is, at once, directed at the complex challenges of our global post-colonial present and towards our possible futures.”
Performances are at 7.30pm with Saturday matinees at 3pm.
Ticket prices range from R100 to R150 and students and pupils pay R50 for matinees and R70 for evening performances.
Book through Webtickets.