Love, tyranny and the clash of the gods’ rule with the state’s law. The classic story of Antigone, the princess who defies a king to bury her brother, has been part of the world’s cultural pantheon for over two millennia, ever since it was written by Sophocles in 441 BC.
Throughout the centuries, ancient theatre drifted away from the present. Far removed from the medium current to the 21st century, it is mostly treated as a valuable cultural heritage of the past, a myth. The Latino Theater Company, which co-produced this year’s Antigone performance with the Getty Villa, decided to change that. The play “Antigone: In the Language of Kings” provides a bridge between the 441 BC ancient Greek play and today by exploring current themes, while setting its action in the 14th-century pre-conquest Tenochtitlan, Mexico.
In the Getty Villa’s 20th annual Outdoor Classical Theater production, directed by José Luis Valenzuela and playwrighted by Evelina Fernández, the tragic heroine Antigone became Antíkona (played by Esperanza América), a powerful figure who fights for the spiritual traditions of the ancestors, even in death.
The reimagining changed the setting and the time of action. It added completely new modern layers of meaning to the classic, giving it a distinctive and richly visual interpretation.
For “Antigone: In the Language of Kings,” the venue is an integral part of the spectacle. The Getty’s outdoor classical theatre is that one-of-a-kind space where the stage could become an extension of the surrounding gardens and open sky.
With that space, the visuals take heavy inspiration from the natural world. What shines the most is the immersive projection mapping, done by Yee Eun Nam, that explores depictions of water, indigenous drawings, fire and the forest. The all-encompassing lighting is what fills the theatre, as other set designs are scarce, reduced mostly to essential objects for the plot.
The main decoratively symbolic prop is fabric which, thanks to the open space, moves through the air mimicking something akin to calm sea waves. The cloth is used in a multitude of surprising ways to communicate death, blood or mourning.
Collectively, the visuals craft a fluid impression of unison movement connecting actors, music and audience together.
Music is perhaps the most soul-piercingly impressive aspect of the new “Antigone” with sound design by John Zalewski and music by Christopher Garcia.
In the production, the music gets broken into its simplest sounds and, conversely, the sounds of “Antigone” become music. This dialectic relationship is one of the most engaging components of the play. The music pays homage to Mesoamerican culture, reviving ancestral rhythms and echoing the greenery around the Villa, making the viewers transport to the Aztec times.
The sound constitutes an essential part of the musical repertoire as well. Here, it comes from the acting itself. Born from movement - the actors wear rattles, and with every meticulously choreographed step of the ritual dances, they produce a new listening experience. The cries of the actors are a resounding sound blended with the orchestra, and the screams are the leading voice in the chorus.
Actors don’t just tell the story; they sing their emotions of loss, of powerlessness and of repentance with their whole being.
The play masterfully portrays these very raw emotions that feel truly real. When Antíkona speaks to the crowd to inspire an uprising, or when the ruler Tlahtoani (played by Cástulo Guerra) mourns the loss of his son, these are moments that stay with the audience long after the theatre ends. What the audience hears sinks deep into their bones, passes through their whole body and inescapably pulls them into the story.
Through reverberating sound and flowy visuals, the audience enters a trance-like state. As long as the play lasts, a liminal space where time ceases to matter is formed. In such a setting, the divide between the actors and the onlookers is easy to blur.
“Antigone: In the Language of Kings” offers a uniquely participatory experience for the audience. The acting “crowd” stands closest to the seating, quite often facing the same way as the viewers. The open theatre structure removes the divisions between stage and seating, with the actors additionally breaking the separation by moving between the aisles. The circulating smell of incense completes the interaction, introducing a multisensory sense of belonging. The onlooker is an active participant in the unfolding action, becoming one of the Tenochtitlan people who listen to the 441 BC story of Antíkona.
The Latino Theatre Company’s reimagining of Antigone is inviting not only through structure but also thanks to the accessibility of its story. The play has multiple “oratory” sections in line with the classical theatre fashion where an explanation, a storytelling, of the story is done. This makes the plot easy to grasp for both new and seasoned theatergoers. These parts can feel a bit slow, especially because they are mostly static and have minimal stage presence that lacks visuals. They are contrasted with the symbolic frames and the immersive chorus during the parts of Aztec rituals that provide an awe-inducing spectacle and balance.
The leading tension between the tradition of the gods and the law of the emperor that’s explicitly stated sets the theme of the original ancient Greek story. It is a lesson teaching against hubris (excessive pride), urging the audience to find the tranquil middle. The modern rendition has a second message to tell, and it’s perhaps more important than the old one.
For over 40 years, the Latino Theater Company has built its work around stories of the U.S. Latino experience. This is the central theme that the heroine Antíkona embodies. The reimagining did not start by revamping the old “Antigone” to give it a flashier veneer. Instead, the Greek tragedy is used as a malleable medium to tell the Theatre’s contemporary message. The focus lies on Mexican culture and the Latino perspective, which is what resonates the most powerfully with the current audience.
It also implies that this unique production sits in its own category. It cannot be compared to classical “Antigone” and should not be. It has its own purpose, which it carries out well. In fact, being a retelling of Sophocles’ “Antigone” didn’t add that much to the production. The play would have the same resonance and significance if it were its own original play.
Antíkona doesn’t need Antigone to exist. Her message is strong enough on its own, speaking not only to the Mexican community, but to every culture.
“Antigone: In the Language of Kings” is a 75 minute long ritual. It is a physical manifestation of a classic tale. It feels as if the audience is sitting around listening to a Tenochtitlan storyteller, reading the ancient Greek story of Antigone out loud. A story full of spectacle, accessible for everyone and with a powerful message that may be more important now than ever.
Thanks to the Latino Theater Company and the Getty Villa, the play gained a new, vibrant life again.
“Antigone: In the Language of Kings” is playing at the Getty Villa until October 9, find more information at https://www.getty.edu/calendar/oct-antigone/