Dancebase, Edinburgh – until 28 August 2022
The story of Antigone, killed by her insistence on burying her outcast brother, is well known but at Dancebase, the audience seated in a circle around a single performer, it seems entirely new.
Solène Weinachter, known for her work with dance theatre company Lost Dogs, performs solo under the direction of Joan Clevillé. She talks to the audience as they come in then slips into the role of storyteller, playing the characters of the story – King Creon, his niece Antigone, her sister Ismene, Creon’s son Haemon. And she starts to move, twitched around the stage by unseen forces as the mortals in her story are drawn to their fates by the gods.
Her use of the space is powerful and expressive, and no one dares breathe as she conjures spirits before our eyes, transforming herself into people and animals, crouching on all fours to growl like a dog.
The soundscape, by Luke Fletcher, consists of the sounds of breathing and Solène’s voice, looped live, and completes the feeling that we have entered a world that is complete, within the circle of onlookers.
Antigone, Interrupted is exceptional and thrilling dance and, like several productions at this year’s Fringe, reverts to Greek myth to provide stories for our trouble times, with remarkable results.
