« Many things are terrible, but of all of them, the most terrible is man. » Sophocles

In 2020, during the pandemic, theatre was defined as a “non-essential activity.” In France, in Europe, and in many parts of the world, governments agreed on this stance: non-essential. The question is more than legitimate: is the theatrical act still necessary for the construction of an open and democratic society? Or are we, dramatic artists, simply playing the role of musicians entertaining first-class passengers while the ship is sinking?

One way to respond would be to deconstruct the theatrical apparatus from its foundations, confronting it with its limitations and responsibilities. To go back to the roots of this secular rite and place it—without artifice, without machinery — where the future of living together is at stake. To confront it with the brutality of reality, stripping it of the comfort of a theatre space, and to relearn — through the school of sensitive connection that theatre offers us — the value of “the political” in the Greek sense of the word: that which binds us to one another. In this sense, before being the rewriting and staging of an ancient tragedy, Antigone’s gesture is a research process on the possibility of “creating society” — beyond borders, identities and languages —through the simple tools of theatre.

ANTIGONE’S GESTURE
A research project by Luca Giacomoni

Artistic team Tatiana Grishko, Yadulllah Mousawi, Wabinlé Nabié, Loick Ngoukou, Arman Saribekyan, Sultan Ulutas Alopé and Akiko Veaux

Assistant director Sarah Brunel, dramaturgy Piera Mungiguerra, production manager Marion Motel

Scientific team Selma Benkhelifa, lawyer at the Brussels Bar; Rachel Brahy, doctor in political and social sciences at ULiège; Grégory Delaplace, director of studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études; Filippo Furri, fellow of the Institut Convergences Migrations; Pierre Judet de La Combe, director of studies at the EHESS; Carolina Kobelinsky, research fellow at the CNRS; Taina Tervonen, freelance journalist.

Production Centre for philosophical and theatrical research Hagia Sophia / Co-produced with the Arab World Institute, the Museum of the History of Immigration, La Nef, Artavism, Fondation Humanités, Digital et Numérique, Fondation Jan Michalski, the City of Paris, and Refugee Week Malta / With the support of the Théâtre du Châtelet, the CENTQUATRE Paris, the CASP, the Atelier des Artistes en Exil, the Salvation Army, France Terre d’asile, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.