Antigone 2020
In Antigone i play the role of ‘Eurydice’ who in the play is king Creons wife and Antigones auntie.
Uta Hagen- 9 questions
I will be using a series of 9 questions regarding my character int he play to help my understanding of who im playing and why i will be playing her like that.
- who am I? – Eurydice is King Creons wife, it is not specified how old she is but i would say around early 40s, I’ve guessed this by finding a source online telling me that Antigone is 15*. The first time we see Eurydice, she enters behind king Creon, she suddenly spots her son in the distance and runs and embraces him, this shows how Eurydice is a very maternal and loving Character. Eurydice also does a scene with the chorus which shows her supporting her people which shows she respects and appreciates her people, more than Creon does. As the play progresses and disastrous events start to occur, we start to see the downfall of Eurydices mental health which I will go into more depth with, but this shows how the death of loved ones really effects her and that although at the start she put on a strong feminine front by always looking cheerful, deep down inside she may have disliked the life she married into and was internally very weak, which later resulted in her suicide. We see that Eurydice doesn’t agree with Creon when he sentences Antigone and she even builds up the courage to question her husband, the king in front of everyone, this shows she likes to get her opinion heard. *(http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/antigone02.htm)
2. What time is it?– Our version of Antigone is set in a post modern war time. We pictured like the end of world war 3, the set reflects this by being very industrial with alot of metal scaffolding and we have props like tires of the stage, this somewhat messiness shows a nation that has just been fighting in war.
3. Where am i?– Our play is set in the city of Thebes, and alot of scenes are set inside of Creons castle, when on stages im usually found following Creon or stood behind him as if im always there to support him, The first time I enter the stage I enter from upstage, this is one of the most powerful places on the stage which relfects the power I possess, but when my body is brought in to show Creon that I have died, Im placed downstage which shows how my power and status have been shattered.
4. What surrounds me?– Surrounding me at the start are a bunch of very happy and cheerful soldiers who have just come back from fighting a long war and have ultimately won so they are all in celebration, more good news comes when Creon announces that he will now be King, the atmosphere is great until Creon announces that only one brother will get an honourable burial and the other will not, this causes lots of tension within the space as the soldiers dont really agree on it, at this point in the play, i just accept any decision my husband decides to make and i do not question him. As the play progresses and Antgone buries her other brother the tension rises and that first initial party atmosphere is lost. Throughout the play im surrounded by my family and the people I love which is ironic as surely one pf her family members would have spotted her mental health deteriorating and would have helped her but no one noticed and she suffered in silence which shows the poor family relationships shes surrounded by, this is further enhanced when Eurydice ends up confiding into a member of the chorus which shows her people support her more then her family.
5. What are the given circumstances?– My husband Creon has just been made king, and off that bat hes proving to be a very powerful leader by making dramatic decisions like only giving one brother a proper burial. As his wife and queen of Thebes I must support his decisions even if i dont agree with them, so at the start of the play when I first enter with Creon I put on a strong front to show power. Although at the very start of the play we see a brief moment between me and Creon where Creon looks uncertain and almost scared to make his first speech but Eurydice is there to reassure him, this shows hes that comfortable and trusting with his wife, he is able to let his guard down and show a vulnerable side. Eurydice is very appreciative of all the soldiers that have just been fighting in war and they all look up to her, this shows Eurydice is a highly respected character. Major events happen within her family such as her husband sentencing her niece to death and her son ends up killing himself, all this really effects Eurydice and I will show this with how i act the character, I will show her vulnerability coming through as the play progresses and her strong front being let down as she gets weaker.
6. What are my relationships? – King Creon is my husband, at the start of the play their relationship seems great, Eurydice is always backing Creon and with him at all of his appearances whilst loving looking at him like hes the best thing in the world and he returns this affection by looking at me in the same way and guiding me off stage, we also have a brief moment at the very start of the play where its just the 2 of us and Creon shows how hes very nervous to take on the role as king but Eurydice is there to reassure him which shows how they have a very trusting relationship. As the play progresses and Creon starts making irrational decisions that Eurydice doesn’t agree with we see the pair start to drift apart and at one point Eurydice stands up for her niece Antigone and questions whether Creon is doing the right thing, and Creon has let the power get to him and starts shouting at Eurydice, his own wife telling her that shes not right, this public humiliation that Eurydice faces starts her downfall. Eurydices relationship towards her niece Antigone is a strange one because in the play they dont actually speak to each other nor do they even interact with each other but Eurydice will always have her nieces back as she takes a risk to stand up to her husband Creon to protect Antigone which will have taken a lot of will power, so Eurydice has a strong motivation to help her niece which reflects Eurydice caring nature. Haemon is Eurydices Son and we see straight away how much they love each other as the first time Eurydice enters she runs straight to her son and gives him a huge hug and is just in complete awe of him. Eurydice and Haemon have such a close bond that at the end of the play when Eurydice finds out that he has died, this may be the catalyst that pushes her over the edge and makes her take her own life, when Eurydice is told the news, she says nothing, she just stops in her tracks, the pain showing through her eyes, and she dramatically runs of stage where members of the chorus follow her, this brings me on to her close relationship with the chorus. In the ‘miracle of man scene’ we see just Eurydice and the chrous an throught this scene Eurydice is socialising with the chorus as if shes part of them and completely ignores the social class division between her as a queen and them as ordinary people, this says alot about Eurydice and how shes a woman of the people. She trusts the chorus so much that in the middle of her downfall we have a moment on stage with her and one member of the chorus, Eurydice enters very drunk with a bottle of wine in one hand and a glass in the other and starts to finally say how shes feeling, and there is alot of hurt and anger in her tone as she speaks and the Chorus member, Shannon is there to listen and care for her, Shannon tries to take the bottle of wine of me but i resist and hold it tighter, this relationship between me and the bottle of wine is significant as it shows how alcohol is now a coping mechanism for her and uses it as an escape from reality and she cant face reality and what its turned into.
7. What do I want? – Unlike some of the other characters Eurydice’s wants arent as drastic, I feel due to the caring nature of Eurydice, the thing she wants more than anything is peace within her family, unlike antigone whos motive is to bury her brother or Creon his motive is to punish Antigone as well as innocent Ismene. Eurydice just wants to see her family happy but with the decisions that Creon makes causes alot of tension within the family to the point where Creon is putting his power and status before his family. This breaks Eurydice to see her family being torn apart, even more so that she cant do anything about it.
8. Whats in my way? – The obstacles in the way of my families happiness is Creon’s decision to only offer one brother an Honourable burial, and Creons stubborn nature means that he is set on his decision, this combined with Antigones strong will power to bury both brothers is a recipe for disaster. Another major thing in her way is the fates, the ancient Greeks belived that many aspects of their lives were controlled by 3 gods known as the fates, the fates in Antigone control Creons life and even intervene by warning him that his decisions will come with bad consequences but he still carries on to fur fill them. The fates show that Creons life and everything that happened, happened for a reason and that Creons fate cant be controlled so it was inevitable for the family to fall apart to teach King Creon a lesson.
9. what do I do to get what i want?– I think Eurydices suicide was heavily influenced by the decisions Creon had made which ultimately led to the death of her niece and son. Eurydice had built a strong hatred towards her husband by the end of the play, he had ruined her life and took away those closest too her, this she couldn’t handle so ended up taking her own life. Whats interesting is seeing Creons reaction when Eurydice is brought in dead, the king is broken as he finds out his son has died too, and you can see him pleading for no more bad news, its like he took his family for granted and now regrets his decisions but obviously was too late. He realises the mistakes he had made but it took the death of all of his family members for him to come to this conclusion.
CHARACTER MOOD BOARD
Eurydice is seen as an influencial figure, she has the respect of her people and is seen as very caring. Costume wise I was told to think on the lines as ‘Footballers wife’ very flashy and designer to show off her wealth and status. Our play is set in a modern post war environment so it can be seen as quite futuristic so I will reflect this in my costume I choose for her. I want her to look Elegant but add a modern twist too it. These 2 outfits below give out an elegant but stylish feel, it’s not to flashy because i feel Eurydice isn’t a flashy person, i feel like the casual chic look reflects her caring nature
COMPARISON
I find it quite useful to look at my chareter and
try and compare her to other roles in different shows and plays so i can get inspiration on different acting techniques to use. One scene in a film that has really inspired how i play Eurydice when she has had her mental downfall is Toni Collettes monologue in the film ‘Hereditary’
In this scene we see her calm at the start, like Eurydice, The character Toni Collette plays called ‘Annie graham’ has recently lost a family member close to her which is her mother. In this scene something her son says triggers Annie and she lets loose and starts shouting and goes almost psychotic, this is the sort of thing that happens to Eurydice when she uses Alcohol as a coping method and finally build up the courage to say what she’s feeling, i’ve taken inspiration from how Toni Collette has played this role as she finally lets loose it’s a very tense moment and you can hear the pain and anger in her voice, when I finally let loose I want the audience to be shocked and almost sympathise my situation, because i’m showing my vulnerability.
Eurydice in literature
Eurydice is well known in greek mythology, She is the daughter of the greek god Apollo and was married to Orpheus. The well known tale of their wedding was that Eurydice was bitten by a snake and died, Orpheus was devastated and went in search of her in the underworld, he played sweet songs which made the gods of the underworld feel terrible so they allowed him to take back Eurydice, on the condition that he wouldn’t look back and see if she was there, he had to trust the gods, unfortunately he couldn’t resist the temptation and he looked back, Eurydice was sent back to the underworld. After doing some research into Eurydice i’ve found her described as “She whose justice extends widely”*this could mean many things but when i relate it back to my character in Antigone, it may mean that her justice affects others such as Creon.
*https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Eurydice/eurydice.html
Physiology of grief, Eurydices downfall
To really understand how eurydice is feeling when she gets told the news of her son dying i’ve decided to look into the phycology of grief and how people are affected. I researched into how people
Caitlin 19 