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YOUNGSTOWN -- "Antigone" proves to be a wonderful showcase, not only for Youngstown State University theater students, but also its staff.
Director Todd Dicken's vision for the staging of Jean Anouilh's adaptation of the ancient Greek tragedy can be seen in every element of the production, and each of those pieces come together to create a work that is both thought provoking and surprisingly funny.
The central conflict here is between Antigone (Meganne Evans) and ruler Creon (Gunnar Carwile). After a civil war between brothers Eteocles and Polynices that leaves both of them dead, the new ruler Creon gives Eteocles a state funeral while letting Polynices rot in public to send a message to anyone who would consider defying the government.
Antigone defies Creon by trying twice to give Polynices a dignified burial. It's a "crime" punishable by death, and Antigone would rather die that be granted a reprieve at the whim of an unjust figurehead.
Evans creates an Antigone who is single-minded and unwavering in her determination without reducing her to nothing more than a martyr. Her characterization is ferocious and fascinating, and the Greek stage masks that she and the rest of the actors wear don't obscure that passion.
Carwile in some ways has the tougher challenge. He's playing a character making an argument that he's not 100 percent committed to, more worried about the politics and perceptions of changing his edict than the accuracy of it in the first place. He's like a boxer trying to find an approach that will work against an immoveable force.
The fissure between Antigone and Creon makes up about half of the play's 105-minute running time without intermission, and it's easy to imagine the play becoming static and didactic with a simpler staging.
This production is anything but.
Dicken's set design is a series of ramps and levels with seven stone-like pillars as a backdrop that serve as a screen upon which images of war are projected, from World War II scenes from the time when Anouilh wrote this version to more contemporary conflicts.
Carmella Donofrio's projection design complements the action without distracting from it. Nathaniel Chapeline's lighting provides flashes of color, especially during the stormy commentary of the Greek chorus (Cherish Little, Olivia Vargas and Aidan Holderfield), who also wield large mask heads.
The blurring of the time frame -- Greek masks, Katherine Garlicks's fantastical costume designs, contemporary handguns -- makes the show both striking visually and timeless thematically.
Perhaps the most important aspect is the humor Dicken is able to mine from a story that doesn't sound like a laugh riot.
The comic relief primarily comes from the buffoonish guards, played to perfection by Tamara Mast, K.J. Hudson and Ryan Bedi. Their "it's-not-our-fault" dialogue and slapstick antics generated consistent laughs, and it's clear from the wigs that two of them wore that the guards were inspired by another trio of ... stooges.
Instead of undercutting the seriousness of the play, their portrayal of incompetence added a satiric bite to the work, making it more like "Dr. Strangelove" than Greek tragedy.
Running through Sunday, YSU's "Antigone" offers plenty to entertain and just as much to think about when it's over.
agray@tribtoday.com