Marc Beaudin

Director’s note for the Blue Slipper Theatre production of Seamus Heaney’s adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone, The Burial at Thebes:

Welcome to Thebes! Our story was originally written by Sophocles nearly 2500 years ago. And yet, it feels as vital and timely today as it did then – especially in the hands of one of Ireland’s greatest poets, Seamus Heaney.

Our story picks up after the events of Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Oedipus and his wife/mother Jocasta had two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene. After Oedipus’ exile and death, the two brothers agreed to share the kingship of Thebes, alternating each year, but after the first year, Eteocles refused to abdicate. Polynices went to Argos and raised an army to try to defeat his brother and take the throne. The brothers killed each other in battle and their uncle Creon claimed the throne. This is where our play begins.

But why is this story still so vital and timely? When Sophocles wrote it, the democracy of Athens was at risk of being overthrown by authoritarian forces. With Antigone, he was speaking directly to that threat. In the play, the natural law of the people is upended by the dictates of a would-be despot, mirroring our current struggles between democratic ideals and authoritarian power, between natural morality and political injustice, between liberty and tyranny.

Shakespeare tells us that the purpose of theatre is to “hold the mirror up to nature.” Let’s take a close look and decide if we like what we see, or if we, like Antigone, will stand up and say, “No.”

Open auditions for The Burial at Thebes, Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney’s adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone, will be held on Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 3 and 4, at 7 pm, at The Blue Slipper Theatre, 113 E. Callender, Livingston. Roles are available for men and women of any age.

The Burial at Thebes, first commissioned by Dublin’s Abbey Theatre as part of its centenary celebrations in 2004, brings a powerful new imagining of Sophocles’ 5th Century BCE masterpiece that “takes Sophocles’ dense, concentrated poetry and decants it into a beautifully transparent contemporary idiom” (The Irish Times). The story examines the clash of family duty vs. civic duty, natural laws vs. manmade rules, and a woman’s personal morality at odds with a tyrannical ruler who stubbornly sees his own decrees as dominant to the law of the land.

The one-act play, directed by Marc Beaudin (Old Times, No Exit, Dracula, etc.), will run weekends from Oct. 2 through 11. Audition sides will be available during the auditions. No advance preparation is needed, and actors of all experience levels are encouraged to audition. Actors are free to come to either audition session. Callbacks may be scheduled only if needed. For more information, visit the theatre’s website at blueslipper.org or call the Blue Slipper at (406) 222-7720.