Looking Back

Hi there. This is Michael.

So, now that Antigone has closed, it gives me and the team a chance to reflect a bit on the show.

In many ways, the production was a bit of a departure for us at Forum. Many of you have come to know us through our use of video or movement in our shows. We typically like to give our shows a sonic landscape full of music, atmospheric sounds and the like. We even do our fair share of abstract language plays. Antigone had none of these things.

And yet, we are very proud to have it as part of our “canon” and feel that it is quite fittingly a Forum show.

As we, the company, and me, the director, grow, it was important for us to venture a bit into the unknown. It was a challenge to apply our mission, especially the part about “experimenting with different styles of storytelling” in new and exciting ways. The Anouilh adaptation of this story relies on its manipulation of storytelling. The end is told at the beginning. We are told that these are just actors and that acting itself is a unique metaphor for the “roles” these characters have to play and live. The plot was straightforward, but its telling was truly unique.

As we developed the production, we constantly found that less was always more. The more we would get out of the way of the language and performances, the better off we are. I couldn’t even find a place for a single sound cue, and I typically rely on sound to find my way into my storytelling. I also tend to play with staging in a very stylized manner, but with this script, there was no place for it. Adding music or abstract movement always felt wrong and the result was this very raw and pure thing. This thing that showcased what Forum strives to accomplish in a new and really exciting way. It opened everyone up to a totally new way of seeing the story and illuminated aspects of the characters that we’d never felt before. It has always been key to me and the other company members that we produce what we feel are essential plays and showcase them in ways that the audience has never seen, heard, or felt them before.

Thank you to everyone who was involved, everyone who came out to see the show, and to everyone who supports us.

–MD