Contemporary Politics and Empathetic Emotions: Company B's Antigone

Abstract

Sydney-based Company B's 2008 season included The Burial at Thebes: Sophocles's Antigone in Irish poet Seamus Heaney's translation. This article shows how the production conveyed notions of war, social upheaval, displacement, and exile that are relevant to contemporary Australian spectators. With its ethnic and racial diversity, and one overt reference to the plight of indigenous people under colonial rule and its legacy, the production confirmed that the emotional resonances in this staging of Antigone reflect and yet transcend the contemporary Australian situation; and Peta Tait here argues that the production contributed to spectators' understanding of the emotions underlying contemporary political debates. Peta Tait is Professor of Theatre and Drama at La Trobe University. Her recent publications include Circus Bodies: Cultural Identity in Aerial Performance (Routledge, 2005) and Performing Emotions: Gender, Bodies, Spaces (Ashgate, 2002). She has published widely on theatre, drama, circus performance, and gender identity, and is co-editor (with Liz Schafer) of the anthology Australian Women's Drama: Texts and Feminisms (Currency Press, 1997).