Antigone

The realisation comes too late, the tragedy has come to pass, systemic change failed to materialize. »So, we can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change and it has to start today.« Greta Thunberg

Leonie Böhm begins her appropriation of the Ancient Greek classic in a moment when everything is not yet lost. Together with the ensemble, she playfully investigates how inner chains can be cast off. How can we enable the transformation of consciousness needed for sustainable change? How can we let go of what’s keeping us from reinventing ourselves, reconnecting ourselves?

»Creon has a huge need for security. Creon keeps the system going. Creon is easily offended. Antigone wants systemic change. Antigone believes in radical honesty and non-violent resistance. I am Antigone. But I am also Creon. Because for systemic change to take place, we must be in the position to overcome our own need for security as well. For a transformation to take place, we have to let go of the concepts we hold on to. How do we come up with the courage required for such a change in consciousness? Violence always just produces a deterrent but not a transformation of consciousness. But that would be what was necessary for a world that is not built on hierarchical, exploitative principles. And that’s what this play is about for me.« Leonie Böhm

Leonie Böhm is known for concentrating canonized texts down to the thoughts and feelings residing in them. Classics are durable. They can be carved up, condensed and compiled in a new way. Compared to the present again and again, and their characters interrogated about our here and now. The focus in the process is on aiming to take their thoughts and feelings seriously and to understand them in their actions. Leonie Böhm’s perspective on the ancient myth of Medea* was invited to the 2021 Theatertreffen festival.

Premiere on 16. April 2023