From Ancient Greece to Victorian Scotland, the Storytelling Centre is excited to host two productions this October which explore female duty and defiance in two contrasting showcases.
ANTIGONE
Mon 2 – Wed 4 October, 8pm (1hr)
Oxygen House celebrate their 30th anniversary by returning to their spiritual home at the Netherbow Theatre with a powerful, modern-dress production of Sophocles’ enduring tragedy, featuring a cast dominated by females.
Antigone is the first new Oxygen House show for twenty years, the first classic production by the company and the first production in association with Acting Out Drama School. Oxygen House are delighted to return to celebrate their landmark anniversary, as well as showcase an amazing group of inspiring and emerging talent, as Artistic Director John Mitchell states:
‘We put on Antigone for one night over a year ago, and I felt strongly that it deserved another outing. The production fits perfectly with Oxygen House’s minimalist aesthetic and the 30th anniversary seemed the perfect time to revive it and to signal a bold new direction for the company going forward.
‘The class working on Antigone was made up of seven students – six women and one man – and we’ve kept to that ratio, so both our Creon and Tiresius are female, which adds a powerful and contemporary resonance to the play. We’re using Dudley Fitts’ and Robert Fitzgerald’s 1939 translation, but we’ve gone for a contemporary totalitarian look in the costuming, as opposed to the classic robes and masks.’
For those unfamiliar with the Sophocles classic, Antigoneburies her brother Polynices in defiance of leader Creon’s orders, and is sentenced to death for believing humanity or natural laws have priority over those decreed by the ruler of Thebes.
ANNVILLE
Sat 7 Oct, 1pm (3hrs – includes Q&A)
Rehearsed Reading
Annville, a new play by Martin Travers, based on acclaimed novel The Flourish by Canadian writer Heather Spears, will be showcased in a rehearsed reading.
Directed by award-winning director Amanda Gaughan and featuring a stellar cast, including Joyce Falconer and Martin Docherty, this powerful and heartbreaking true Victorian tragedy is brought to life in Scots, with live piano score and hymns from award-winning composer Karen McIver.
Set at Annville House outside Lanark in 1883, explore how wickedness comes to pass as a man lies dying in the scullery, while two women inch toward the gate with life-threatening injuries. As winter descends on the valley, tempers and jealousies crack and shatter like ice as we explore the story of Willie Brown, recuperating under the care of his cousin and music teacher, Charlotte.
Promising fever, infatuation, music, religion and murder – don’t miss the opportunity to see this brand new piece of work from a talented creative team.
