Sophocles' "Antigone" and Aeschylus' "Prometheus Bound" are both Greek tragedies, and both were recently performed by the students of UCL and KCL respectively. 

"Antigone" features the conflict between the daughter of Oedipus, Antigone and her uncle King Creon. The brothers of Antigone: Eteokles and Polynices both kill each other, one defending the city of the Thebes, the other attempting to invade it. Therefore Creon denies Polynices the right to burial due to dying dishonourably, sparking anger and rebellion from Antigone. She goes against his will and buries her brother and due to this, is captured by Creon and sent to a cavern. Antigone takes her own life and the man whom she is betrothed to; Haimon, son of Creon, drives a sword through himself after seeing her dead. Creon learns of both deaths and finds the body of his son, mourning him and regretting the choices he had made. He is then informed of his wife, Eurydike's death and the play concludes. 

"Prometheus Bound" is essentially about the god Prometheus' betrayal to Zeus. He is said to have given fire to mortals in order to aid them through their lives, something that Zeus does not approve of and therefore he orders Prometheus to be bound up on a deserted rock face - hence the name "Prometheus Bound." The play explores the time in which Prometheus is bound up, where he is visited by Oceanus a titan and his offspring, the Oceanids who attempt to comfort him. He also meets Io, a mortal who has been changed into a cow and cursed with being constantly followed by a gadfly. This is said to be the work of Hera, wife of Zeus. Prometheus tells Io about her future, that she will make her way to Egypt and settle there, where one of her descendants would be the one to release him from his suffering. He also mentions that someone will overthrow Zeus. Hermes, the messenger god arrives to discover who this may be and when Prometheus refuses to tell him, Zeus strikes Prometheus with a lightning bolt and he falls into the abyss below.

Overall I thought the production of "Antigone" by UCL was entertaining. It was modernised slightly, with the use of humorous modern day expletives by Creon when arguing with Haimon, deeming him a "little s***." This helped to balance out the seriousness of the play and give it a more comical tone. At times, however, this comical tone did not allow the correct atmosphere to be achieved. An example was the three deaths at the end, which, in my opinion, were not sufficiently tragic. Instead they seemed to be rather rushed, all occurring within the last twenty minutes of the two hour long play, and this cramming in of the deaths did not evoke sympathy from the audience but in truth, laughter. In addition in terms of acting, from the start, Antigone was already portrayed as rather passionate, however during the climax of the play, wherein a stronger level of passion was needed, there appeared to be little escalation at that point. On the other hand, the special effects were impressive – when a projection of Eurydike's silhouette appeared at the end, it added a slightly more melancholic mood to what seemed to be a comic set of consecutive deaths. In conclusion, UCL produced a modernised play that was fairly comical, with some preservation of the tragic elements of the original play.

The performance of "Prometheus Bound" however was very different. Firstly it was acted out entirely in Ancient Greek, thus preserving the authenticity of the play itself – translated plays tend to lose their poetic nature. Above the stage, subtitles were provided that would change as the play progressed. Initially, they functioned well with the acting however there were points during the play where the subtitles would freeze but the acting would continue, and although this may have just been a technical malfunction, it proved to be slightly irritating at the climax of the play, when Prometheus told Io of her future. Without subtitles to aid the audience, this integral moment lost its effect. Despite this, I found the acting engaging, and though the play itself was heavy with monologue, it seemed to keep the audience focused and attentive throughout. The ending scene where Prometheus was thrown into the abyss was also conducted well, with strobe lighting to depict Zeus striking a bolt. It added well to the atmosphere and a fitting way to end the play. The set was also well made, adorned with paper vines hanging over the stage, which made it rather aesthetic and realistic to some extent. KCL did well; putting on a play that succeeded at preserving the authenticity of the original Greek tragedy whilst being highly engaging.

I personally found both plays very enjoyable and would recommend them both to Classics enthusiasts.

By Dayna Mistry, Nonsuch High School For Girls