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“Antigone” staged in Delhi

Naseeruddin Shah speaks to The Daily Star

KAVITA CHARANJI, New Delhi
Just a day before his performance in the Greek tragedy Antigone. renowned actor Naseeruddin Shah spoke to The Daily Star recently at the National School of Drama in Delhi. Admirers milled around him as he made his way to a rehearsal, accompanied by his wife Ratna Pathak Shah and actor Benjamin Gilani. Nevertheless Shah took a few minutes off to talk to tliis correspondent about the relevance of the play and his role as the tyrant Creon, ruler ofThebes.
"Creon epitomises the character of despotic politicians in a police state. He has ruthlessly usurped power and justifies it as he clashes with Antigone who represents the individual against the establishment," explains Shah.
Right from the time the curtains went up, the audience was spell bound. In a delightful opening sequence, two men dressed as sentries grabbed hold of a man who ran on stage with a mobile phone and bundled him off -- a not so subtle warning to the audience to desist from using the bothersome gadget.
The storyline of Jean Anouilh's Antigone, inspired by the fifth century BC play by Sophocles: Antigone (beautifully played by Ratna) is the daughter of the accidental incestuous marriage between King Oedipus of Thebes and his mother Jocasta. She is pitted against her autocratic uncle Creon who sends out orders against the respectable burial of Polynice, her dead brother. Eventually after many dialogues -- according to some critics, too many -- on power, fate and choice, the play inches towards a denouement as Antigone commits suicide and Haemon, Creon's son who loves Antigone, also kills himself.
The play was staged by the Motley group from Mumbai and the able director was Satyadev Dubey. There were some memorable moments in the play: The anguished Antigone huddled up in an embryonic pose as she is comforted by her nurse, her humiliation at the hands of guards, the threat of torture in a confrontation with Creon and the numerous skeletons that come tumbling out of the cupboard.
The play could be interpreted at many levels. A comparison is often
drawn between the French occupation and the play, with Antigone representing the courageous members of the French Resistance, while her uncle Creon is regarded as a collaborator to the German occupiers.
Another perspective is the feminist angle, which regards Antigone as a feminist long before her time. Indeed Antigone represents a spirited woman who opts for a hard option against a powerful male establishment. Rather than succumbing to Creon's suggestion that she marry Haemon and produce an heir, she chooses to stand courageously against him In one memorable scene, she cries: “You are a man remember; I dare sayyou think I’m being silly. Perhaps you're not so very wise yourself.” She also recalls the oppressive environment in which she grew up: being told not to play with water because she would wet the palace tiles or with earth as she would spoil her frock
The finale of Antigone is apt in the last scene only the guards are left. Just as they played cards at the play's opening, they go back to the game -- completely unconcerned about the tragedy that has just unravelled.