Fizza Hasan
Artistic Director, Theatre Wallay
First produced during the German occupation of France, Antigone is a story of resistance, of a young woman’s stand against an authoritarian ruler. Anouilh’s rewriting of the ancient Greek play turns it into a political and social commentary, as well as a moral one; this in turn makes it a play relevant to all time. This modern version of the play is often also suggestive rather than historical in its accuracy, which opens it up to different interpretations around the world.
I have always seen this play as more a social than a political play, as a woman’s stand not just against an authoritarian ruler and political system, but against a patriarchal system
(Fizza Hasan)
This is a play that I have been thinking about for years, its biggest appeal being in the fact that its protagonist is a young woman with a mission, a conviction that she is doing what is right and that she has every right to do it for that reason, even if she dies as a result of her actions. I have always seen this play as more a social than a political play, as a woman’s stand not just against an authoritarian ruler and political system, but against a patriarchal system where she is belittled, sidelined, humored, and where her voice has no value. As daughter, niece, sister, fiancé, she is loved, but not taken seriously as an actor on the stage of life.
Given recent developments in countries around the world like Iran, Afghanistan, and even Pakistan, I think the time is ripe for a production of this play, recognizing the struggle of women throughout history, and today, for the right to existence, and individual identity, and for the right to be heard and taken seriously as human beings equal to men in terms of intelligence, capability, and feeling, and with the same claim upon the world as men have.
