Are the choices we make today ours or already predetermined?
When Esmeh was 14, she ran away from her East London home and joined the Islamic State in Syria. Now the war is over, she finds herself stranded in a refugee camp and her citizenship cancelled by the UK’s Home Secretary. Her sister Antiya launches a hunger strike to bring her home causing a media frenzy that engulfs her and the Home Secretary’s family in a dangerous PR game no one is sure how to play.
Set in an interactive media studio where you vote and affect the story’s direction, this is a new play inspired by Sophocles’ classic tragedy Antigone and the real stories of the young women who became the so called ‘ISIS Brides’.
Developed through student workshops in East London, this is a challenging immersive theatre piece that looks at the effect of behaviour-predicting technologies on freedom of choice and democracy.
In the press
★★★★★ ‘A magnificent tale of what it is to be human’
Spy in the Stalls
★★★★★ ‘Strikingly topical and purposefully challenging… fantastic writing by Raptotasios’
Beyond the Curtain
★★★★ ‘Thrilling update of Sophocles’ tragedy gives the audience a vote on questions of morality’
The Stage
★★★★ ‘Tense and thoughtful… an important and telling production’
Morning Star
★★★★ ‘A brutally unsettling and thought-provoking work’
Ham & High
★★★★ ‘Riveting… a thought-provoking, provocative new interactive play’
Broadway World
★★★★ ‘A production that will either make you question your beliefs, or leave you feeling even stronger in your convictions’
Green Room Reviews
Rehearsal Trailer
Cast
PHIL CHEADLE
HIBA MEDINA
ALI HADJI-HESHMATI
SORCHA BROOKS
HANNA KHOGALI
Creative Team
WRITER AND DIRECTOR | ALEXANDER RAPTOTASIOS
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR & DRAMATURGE | OR BENEZRA-SEGAL
SET DESIGNER | MARCO TURCICH
COSTUME DESIGNER | MARIE-CECILE INGLESI
VIDEO CONTENT CREATOR | VITTORIA BELLI
PLAYTEXT EDITOR | JULIA CATERINA HARTLEY
COMMUNITY WORKSHOP DESIGNER & CREATIVE CONSULTANT | HAFSAH ANEELA BASHIR
CASTING DIRECTOR | ELLIE COLLYER-BRISTOW CDG
PHOTOGRAPHER | YANNICK LALARDY
LIGHTING DESIGNER | ARIANE NIXON
STAGE MANAGER | JULIETA KILGELMANN
ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE – DEVISOR | OYA BACAK
FACILITATOR & CREATIVE CONSULTANT | AMBER LONE
SOUND ASSOCIATE | CHRIS PROSHO
MOVEMENT ASSOCIATE | CHÉ
PRODUCTION MENTOR | ANDREW SMAJE
VIDEO MAPPING | SDNA
Freesheet
Artwork by Yannick Lalardy.
Ferodo Bridges in association with Park Theatre presents the World Premiere of
Antigone [on strike]
Written and directed by Alexander Raptotasios