Antigone

Sophocles (c. 496 - 406 BCE) was one of the three great tragic playwrights of ancient Greece, along with Aeschylus and Euripides. He wrote 123 plays during a career of 60 years and was still writing at the age of 90. Only seven of his tragedies survive in their entirety.David Bullen is a lecturer in drama and theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. His research interests centre on myth, adaptation, feminist and queer theatre practice, and eco-dramaturgies. He is the author of Greek Tragedy in 21st Century British Theatre.

A world of self-regarding power that falls apart through its neglect of instinctive human feeling

• ChronologyContexts (original performance conditions in 441 BCE including the multiple dimensions of the City Dionysia; what is known about Sophocles; the cultural tradition into which Antigone fitted; Athens the city-state in the mid-fifth century BCE)Translation (transition of Antigone from fifth century BCE performance to the text Don Taylor worked with)Themes (philosophical ideas in Antigone taken up by philosophers such as Hegel and Butler)Key moments (key dramatic moments, using the 2012 National Theatre production to investigate these moments)Characters (Antigone; Creon as civic saviour or ruthless tyrant; Teiresias)Dramatic devices Play in performance (with a focus on the 2012 National Theatre production, which used Don Taylor's translation and interviews with practitioners from this production, including director Polly Findlay, dramaturg Ben Power and actors Christopher Eccleston and Jodie Whittaker) PLAY TEXTNotes