Small Wooden Shoe

Antigone Dead People
by Evan Webber
a new play from an old story

Produced by Small Wooden Shoe
October 2012

with
Maev Beaty as Antigone 
Philip Shepherd as Creon
Brendan Gall as Polynixes
Frank Cox-O’Connell as Haemon
Liz Peterson as Ismene 
Antonio Cayonne as the Guard
and with 
Sky Gilbert and Lindsey Clark 
as the Mourners 

The ghosts of the characters of Antigone gather to perform the play “Antigone”. One last time. Maybe.

Two brothers, children of a former king, kill each other in a civil war. One is to be buried as a hero, the other to be left where he died, unburied, as a warning and punishment. A sister, Antigone, wants them both buried. The leader of the state, Creon, her uncle and father of her fiancé, cannot allow her to stand unpunished. This is Thebes and these are the children of Oedipus. 

Ismene: Antigone, our family has really serious problems.

The story of Antigone is a political and social parable with personal and emotional connection to contemporary living and no easy solution

Questions of immigration, reasonable accommodation and the treatment of refugees underscore the civil war that kills the brothers. Terrorism, occupation, violence and regime change are real threats, audible just outside the playing space. Nothing is clear and everything is at stake. This is our world as it is the world of Greek drama. 

With his beautiful and urgent proposal Webber has created a play with a striking combination of poetic language, humour, experimental form and complex politics.

Small Wooden Shoe (Dedicated to the Revolutions, Life of Galileo) once again brings together some of Toronto’s most exciting performers and artists to work on a project of national significance. A dynamic performance in a community hall, with a sophisticated and complex layering of pre-recorded voice playback, live and recorded foley, lavaliere microphones and  sound score – all mixed together to make a singular experience. 

Earlier development with Crows’  Theatre and Soulpepper
with the support of the
Toronto Arts Council and the
Ontario Arts Council.