Word: creon
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
While Heaney studied historical translations and their political implications in his translation, he also drew upon current events for inspiration. He says he saw clear parallels between President Bush before the Iraq War and Creon, the king of Thebes. Both were authoritative rulers who forced their people to make an absolute moral decision without full understanding of the moral ambiguity of their situation...
...star of this Antigone is Creon, not Antigone. While the recent interest in Antigone as a feminist hero is not ignored, it is not the focus of the production. Creon, the tyrant of Thebes who forbids the burial of Antigone's brother and then punishes her for doing so, is played by John Douglas Thompson. He portrays a young vigorous leader eager to consolidate his position and prove his ability, naive to the moral compromises leadership may require. Thompson has an honest and energetic face that draws the audience to sympathize with Creon. According to Thompson's portrayal, Creon bends...
Aysan Celik's Antigone, on the other hand, captures the ambiguities and changing motives that Sophocles built into her role. At the beginning of the play, she trespasses Creon's decree with an eye to glorious martyrdom, only to become hideously frightened once her execution is inevitable. Thompson's Creon acts on character; Celik's Antigone is impulsive. These two actors' interpretations of the role are the closest the production comes to being a prism that reflects contemporary times. Antigone is the baby boomer of the 60s, fighting the good fight for all the reasons right and wrong; Creon...
This production can be recommended primarily on the grounds that it is an involving performance of a classic play, and the minor characters and chorus ensure that the audience does not daydream. Best is Thomas Derrah as the Sentry, the farcical messenger who comes to Creon bearing bad news. He evokes a bratty 12-year-old impersonating a defensive but cynical rail worker who has caused a six car train wreck...
Luckily, however, these early jitters disappear as the play moves onward. Rayd Abu-Ayyash '01 gives the production's most outstanding performance as Creon, King of Thebes, whose Machiavellian exterior hides a more compassionate realism that cares more for the living than for the dead. Declaring Polynices a traitor was a political expediency, yet Creon argues it has created a peace that Antigone's actions may threaten. Abu-Ayyash has Antigone's most finely drawn character in Creon, to be sure, but he does not shrink from the task, maintaining a strong, clean elocution and succeeding at keeping his long...