Miss Antigone: Unauthorised Classics

The Unauthorised Classics series by Richard Baines

One of the hardest decisions for a school Drama group to make is simply this: Which play?

The choice must be entertaining. The text must be clear and relevant. The set must be practical. The play must have parts for a specific number of actors, male and female. The show must not go endlessly on all night. And so on.

And, occasionally, it would be nice to get away from the school musical and tackle a classic.

The Unauthorised Classics Series can solve some of these problems.

Miss Antigone is a modern interpretation of the play Antigone by the Greek playwright Sophocles [441 BC].

The story of Antigone is an old Theban legend, the story centring around a handful of soil. As with folktales and myths, legends have been retold time and again over the years, the different versions making the story relevant to modern readers and audiences.

Miss Antigone explores questions for our own time the different ways the old and the young view the world, the conflict between believers and non-believers, the difficult relationship between justice and the law, as well as anarchy, sexism and the extent to which we are in control of our own lives. The events of our story generally follow the old legend, but finish with an intriguing and original twist.