The production will run at the Finsbury Park based theatre from the 30th January until the 22nd February.
It has been announced that the Park Theatre will present Alexander Raptotasios’s Sophocles’ tragedy which for this production has been inspired by by true stories of the so-called ‘ISIS Brides’.
Officially opening on the 3rd February, Antigone (On Strike) explores how the media shapes politics and public discourse on immigration, human rights and extremism, with the audience being invited to vote on the narrative, displaying their answers in real-time.
When Esmeh was 14, she ran away from her East London home and joined the Islamic State in Syria. Now the war is over, she finds herself stranded in a refugee camp and her citizenship cancelled by the UK’s Home Secretary. Her sister Antiya launches a hunger strike to bring her home causing a media frenzy that engulfs her and the Home Secretary’s family in a dangerous PR game no one is sure how to play.
Set in an interactive media studio where you vote and affect the story’s direction, this is a new play inspired by Sophocles’ classic tragedy Antigone and the real stories of the young women who became the so called ‘ISIS Brides’.
Written and directed by Alexander Raptotasios, it was developed through community discussions with students and teachers in schools in East London. Raptotasios said: “t is incredible how an ancient tragedy can speak to our current struggles as a democracy. Antigone questions how much a government can restrict human rights for the ‘good of the country’. Our new version is allowing public opinion to play a crucial part as audiences participate and are faced with their choices. What shapes our opinion? A public debate, cold facts or an Instagram ad”
The cast for the production is set to include: Phil Cheadle, Hiba Medina, Ali Hadji-Heshmati, Sorcha Brooks, Oya Bacak (on video).
Meanwhile, the creative team behind the production includes: Associate director and dramaturge Or Benezra-Segal, Set and lightening designer Marco Turcich, Costume designer Marie-Cecile Inglesi, Text Editor Julia Catarina Hartley Community workshop designer and advisor Hafsah Aneela Bashir , Video Content Creator Vittoria Belli Stage Manager Julieta Kilgelman Casting Director Ellie Collyer-Bristow and Video Mapping SDNA.
To book tickets visit: https://parktheatre.co.uk/event/antigone-on-strike/