Well, here we are. These people that you see here are about to act out for you the story of Antigone.
That THIS LITTLE CREATURE by herself, staring straight ahead, seeing nothing, is Antigone.
She is thinking. She is thinking that the instant I finish telling you who's who and what's
what in this play, show ill burst forth as the, TENSE, SALLOW, WILLFUL GIRL,
who is about to rise up and face the whole world alone
-- alone against the world and against Creon, her Uncle, the King Another thing that she is thinking is this: she is going to die.
Antigone is young. She would much rather live than die.
But there is no help for it. When you are on the side of the gods TRUTH against the tyrant,
the Man against the State, of purity against corruption -- when in short your name is Antigone, there is only one part you can play;
and she will have to play hers through to the end.
Mind you, Antigone doesn't know all these things about herself. I know them because it is my business to know them.
The young man talking to Ismene — to the gay and golden BEAUTIFUL Ismene — is Haemon. He is the King's son, Creon's son.
The apple of the tyrant's eye. Antigone and he are engaged to be married.
You wouldn't have thought she was his type. He likes dancing, sports, competition; he likes women, too.
Now look at Ismene again. She is certainly more beautiful than Antigone.
She is the girl you'd think he'd go for. Well...There was a ball one night.
Ismene wore a new evening dress. She was radiant. Haemon danced every dance with her: he wouldn't look at any other girl.
And yet, that same night, before the dance was over, suddenly he went in search of Antigone,
found her sitting alone — like that, with her arms clasped round her knees — and asked her to marry him.
We still don't know how it happened. It didn't seem to surprise Antigone in the least. It didn't seem to surprise Antigone in the least. She looked up at him
Out of those solemn eyes of hers, smiled sort of sadly and said "yes." That was all. The band struck up another dance.
Ismene, surrounded by a group of young men, laughed out loud. And... well, here is Haemon expecting to marry Antigone.
He didn't know, when he asked her,that the earth wasn't meant to hold a husband of Antigone,
and that this princely distinction was to earn him no more than the right to die sooner than he might otherwise have done.
That gray-haired, powerfully built man sitting lost in thought, with his little page at his side, is Creon, the King.
His face is lined. He is tired. He practices the difficult art of a leader of men.
When he was younger, when Oedipus was King and Creon was no more than the King's
brother-in-law, he was different. He loved music, bought rare manuscripts, was a kind of art patron.
He would while away whole afternoons in the antique shops of this city of Thebes.
But Oedipus died. Oedipus' sons died. Creon's moment had come.
He took over the kingdom. HAD TO ROLL UP HIS SLEEVES AND TAKE OVER THE KINGDOM.
I'll tell you something about Creon. NOW AND THEN, WHEN HE GOES TO BED WEARY WITH THE DAY'S WORK,
HE WONDERS WHETHER THIS BUSINESS OF BEING A LEADER OF MEN IS WORTH THE TROUBLE.
He has a tendency to fool himself.
This leader of men, this brilliant debater and logician, likes to believe that if it were not for his sense of responsibility,
he would step right down from the throne and go back to collecting manuscripts.
But the fact is he loves being king. He's an artist who has always believed that he could govern just as well as any man of action could.
That pale young man ONE leaning against the wall is the Messenger.
Later on he will come running in to announce that Haemon is dead. He has a premonition of catastrophe.
That's what he is brooding over. That's why he won't mingle with the others.
As for those three pasty-RED-faced card players — they are the guards, members of Creon's police.
They chew tobacco; one smells of garlic,another of beer; but they're not a bad
lot. They have wives they are afraid of, kids who are afraid of them;
they're bothered by the little day-today worries that beset us all. At the same time --
they are policemen: eternally innocent, no matter what crimes are committed;
eternally indifferent, for nothing that happens can matter to them.
They are quite prepared to arrest any body at all, including Creon himself,
should the order be given by a new leader.
That's the lot. Now for the play.
Oedipus, who was the father of the two girls,
Antigone and Ismene, had also two sons, Eteocles and Polynices.
After Oedipus died, it was agreed that the two sons should share his throne,
each to reign over Thebes in alternate years.
But when Eteocles, the elder son, had reigned a full year,
and time had come for him to step down, he refused to yield up the throne to his younger brother, Polynices.
There was civil war. Eteocles and Polynices met in SINGLE combat and
THE TWO BROTHERS killed one another just outside the city walls.
Creon has issued a solemn edict that Eteocles, on whose side he was,
is to be buried with pomp and honors, and that the younger brother, Polynices is to be left to rot.
The vultures and the dogs are to bloat themselves on his carcass.
It is against this blasphemy that Antigone rebels.