The issue is straight out of the news. A young girl has been manipulated into joining the Islamic Front. At the current moment, having had a child, she is in a refugee camp, and she wishes to return to Britain. The High Court has refused her claim, but her sister goes on a hunger strike to protest this decision. She is joined in that demonstration by her boyfriend who happens to be the son of the Home Secretary. Antigone [on strike] creates a melodramatic narrative around the complex issue of whether a minor should be held responsible for actions she took while under the influence of others. The characters are one-dimensional and merely represent sides in an argument, as Antigone [on strike] is less a play than it is an experience. The production uses an interactive voting system to gauge audience response to various questions about the situation, but it is actually very difficult to answer many of them as both the questions and the proposed answers are simplistic and lacking in much nuance. Although the show apparently intends to attack the manipulation of public opinion, it itself doesn't really do much to inform the audience. It seems more intent on exposing political hypocrisy and the passions that inflame such deeply complex issues rather than illuminating how complicated they are. In fact, for a work that is about the dangers of manipulation, the show's intent seems to be quite manipulative. At the conclusion, one leaves the theatre not much better informed about a perplexing issue, but probably more suspicious about one's sources of information and possibly more set in one's uninformed opinion.
Rated: ★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Nir Segal
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