Antigone Response #6 - Meta Theatre & Jean Anouilh

Meta Theatre and Jean Anouilh

I've wanted to do a little more research on meta theatre because it's such a huge part of Antigone and we've been experimenting with it a lot lately. Even though we haven't been given our parts yet, we are still able to start organising the beginning of the play because it doesn't require any of the characters in the core of Antigone.

Mr. Chipp has come up with the idea to have us enter as actors, with insignificant characters and personalities that we will shed once we are cast by the person playing the Prologue (Harriet in this case). We were all given characters that ring true to life, to create a sense of us entering into a drama studio. The idea is that we will be actors playing actors, and in doing this -it will expose the fact that we are in a play ourselves. In this sense, meta theatre is being exposed. I think that this is an effective way of starting this play because the audience will immediately understand the element of meta theatre as it's made clear from the second the play starts. As soon as the play starts, they are made aware that we are actors. Here is a video we took in today's lesson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLmucnX1YWE

Meta theatre can be defined as the characters knowing and making it known to the audience that they are in a play. Instead of hiding the mechanics in conventional realism, meta theatre makes them known by often breaking the forth wall and telling the audience straight out that they are in a play and they are playing a part. After reading the Prologue speech through, it seems to make meta theatre it's direct intention, and this made me wonder about the writer, Jean Anouilh. I decided that I needed to learn more about the context in which he wrote Antigone, so I did a bit more research.

As I believe that I've said before, Jean Anouilh wrote his version of Antigone in 1944, in the height of Nazi occupation in France. Before, in the original Greek version of Antigone, that was written by Sophocles, there was no Prologue or Chorus, and no referral to meta theatre. The addition of the chorus, suggests an underlying tone of rebellion from Anouilh, and this therefore, implies his knowledge of the "destinies" of the French during this occupation. He was aware that they were a part of a timeline that seemed to move closer and closer towards death.

Antigone seems to represent the French people and the rebellion that some of them possessed. They know that they have been cast as the victims and the heroes, so there is no point in avoiding their destinies, they run towards them instead. Additionally, Creon is representation of a dictatorship, that rejects culture -not letting Antigone bury her brother- and rules with an all powerful hand. Creon represents Nazi power.

It seems this is why Anouilh's version of Antigone was not banned from the stage during the occupation because although Creon can be seen to have made an irrational decision in not burying Polynices, his decision is eventually revealed to be strictly political. Despite popular opinion, the Nazi reign in Europe, to me, evidences an intellectual power that ruled because they made many decisions that put world domination and conversion at the forefront of their agenda, winning over the German people and others through the promise of an awarding and perfect society. Creon likewise, eliminated any potential foes by creating a false sense of peace where it was not.

Although, at times it seems unfair to compare Antigone with the French people, because she acts so idiotically, I think the point of her idiocy is to reveal that the beliefs of any one individual can crumble an empire in it's entirety. Antigone's sole role is to destroy herself, and in the process destroy the false sense of peace suffocating her as well. This again suggests an underlying rebellion that would have intrigued a Nazi occupied France. Since Antigone is viewed to be in the wrong throughout the play, this would also suggest why it was not banned from being preformed.

In true tragedy fashion, the play sticks with the idea that there is no hope for a happy ending. This is reflected in the cynicism of the Chorus who scoffs at drama in the middle of the play and her constant referral to the destined death of Antigone in the Prologue. So perhaps it's not Antigone who is being idiotic, it is the play within itself and all the characters taking part. It seems that this implies that Anouilh is not only accusing Nazis, but the entirety of WWII itself.