Greek tragedy “Antigone” recreated by Vietnamese director
The launch of the play “Antigone” by Director Tran Luc on November 14 marked the start of a theater project by Goethe Institut in collaboration with Hanoi-based Youth Theatre of Vietnam running from late 2021 to early 2022.
“Antigone” was written by Sophokles, one of the ancient Greek playwrights. For two and a half thousand years, the play has inspired the creative world and challenged to reflect on human nature and our place in society. The project engages several well-known theatre directors in Vietnam.
Antigone by Sophocles is little known in Vietnam. It is said to be very similar to “Kieu”, the main character of Vietnam’s classic verse novel “The tale of Kieu” by Nguyen Du. Like Kieu, Antigone came from a good family, made a moral decision for moral reasons and was consequently at the mercy of power structures and violence in her environment.
It is also about loyalty to the family and the state, about human dignity and social cohesion, about the course of history and the importance of the individual in society.
Recreated by Director Tran Luc with Vietnam’s traditional theatre techniques, the play has been more closely related to Vietnamese audience and able to touch their hearts.
