New York Fringe Festival Report: \'Antigone Unearthed\'

By KEN JAWOROWSKI

Reviews of shows from the New York International Fringe Festival will appear on ArtsBeat through the festival's close on Aug. 26. For more information, go to fringenyc.org.

Be wary of a play whose selling points, according to its publicity materials, include “20 cubic feet of potting soil” and “spinal movement.” Granted, this is the Fringe festival, where peculiarities are prized. But when a production â€" in this case “Antigone Unearthed” â€" seems more concerned with pretense than storytelling, head-scratching is sure to ensue.

“Antigone,” by Sophocles, can be a powerful work to revive. The play's inquiries into what is “right” versus what is legal, and its questions of whether to defy the state over personal beliefs, are always provocative (particularly in an election year, with echoes of the Occupy movement still in the air). Issues aside, it's also a pretty tense tale.

After a ra mbling start (viewers unfamiliar with the original plot will be lost), “Antigone Unearthed,” an all-female reimagining of the tragedy, introduces stylized movements, blackouts and sounds (hissing, hooting, wordless singing) that neither advance a theme, nor create an absorbing mood, nor support the self-indulgent script.

Approaching Greek myths nontraditionally is hardly new. JoAnne Akalaitis and Theodora Skipitares, among others, have done so for decades, with Ms. Skipitares expertly employing puppets to fashion a new world onstage. By contrast, this hourlong piece, by Rachel Broderick, rarely varies in emotion or atmosphere. At the end, upon Antigone's death, there is hardly a sense that a drama has even unfolded.

It is somewhat unfair to compare Ms. Broderick (who also directed, with Sophia Treanor) to those auteurs. This is her first play, in a festival that encourages exploration. And the piece is often a dream vision, allowing for loose interpretation. Indeed, there are watchable moments here â€" the show's choreography can be interesting, and the cast members (notably Jill Jones and Jessie Komitor) are dedicated.

Yet a crucial tenet of theater has been ignored: engage your audience. In the end, they won't walk away caring about the soil or the spinal movements. They'll be discussing the story.

“Antigone Unearthed” continues through Aug. 26 at the Living Theater, 21 Clinton Street, near Houston Street, Lower East Side; (866) 468-7619, antigoneunearthed.org.