Oedipus | Antigone RECOMMENDED
Sherman Theatre, Cardiff
Wed 24-Sun 28 Feb
words: Amelia Forsbrook
With the Sherman already started on its multi-million pound makeover, perhaps it is time for a moment of reflection. With many of the most successful tragedies hinged on moments of great change, it is only fitting that from the heart of the Sherman’s creative team at this threshold moment comes an incredibly challenging piece based on timeless myths.
Oedipus | Antigone bears the markings of groundbreaking Sherman director Phillip MacKenzie whose work has transformed refugee camps, nightclubs and underground cellars worldwide into suitable performance spaces. Since coming to the Sherman, MacKenzie has exhibited a reversal of this concept so that the traditional space of the theatre is targeted and exposed as an uncanny and problematic location of performance. Last year, his moving work Kontakt invited audience members to takes the roles of ‘participator’ or ‘observer’, ultimately merging the roles so there was little difference between actor, viewer and volunteer.
MacKenzie’s most recent offering extends this notion of theatre as an unnatural location. Oedipus | Antigone will see one hundred young people haunting the shell of the Sherman so that the foyer, corridors and dressing rooms all become places to act out this ancient myth. In an edgy echo of the Christmas Carol residency over the seasonal months, this is Sherman suspended between ghosts of past and future.
In MacKenzie’s words, this is a ‘stripped down’ performance. Indeed, through Greek Myth we are taken back to the very origins of the performing arts; Oedipus | Antigone cements the view that although the Sherman may be changing to embrace a new form of presenting theatre, it maintains a commendable acknowledgement of its roots.
Tickets: £5-7. Info: 029 2064 6900 / www.shermancymru.co.uk (AF)