Review of Milo Rau’s Antigone in the Amazon

One of the most demanded performances of the current European festival summer was the new production of the famous Swiss director Milo Rau “Antigone in the Amazon”. With this work, he completed the period of his leadership of the NTGhent theater. I visited the premiere in Belgian Ghent Esther Steinbock.

Milo Rau, head of the Wiener Festfochen festival next year, with the premiere of Antigone in the Amazon began farewell to the Flemish Ghent, whose theater he turned into a center of attraction for the whole theatrical Europe in a few years. With the same production, he completed his “Trilogy of Ancient Myths”, within which he previously released the play “Orest in Mosul”, material for which was collected in northern Iraq, and the film “New Gospel”, filmed in refugee camps in southern Italy. Well, at the same time, he also completed a covid theatrical break: the performance was supposed to be released three years ago, but the production team of Antigone had to interrupt work and leave Brazil in the middle of rehearsals. In the spring of this year, the Brazilian part of the work was completed, and then it became possible to release a performance – a queue of European festivals, including Vienna and Avignon, had long been lined up behind it.

It would seem, where is the ancient Greek “Antigone” of Sophocles, and where is Amazonia? For Milo Rau, chronological and geographical distances are not an obstacle, but a source of inspiration. Modern theater does not exist without a clear, sharp and relevant message. And only in the imagination of such an artist can there be a connection between the daughter of Oedipus Antigone, who rebelled against the absolute power of King Creon, and the Brazilian movement of landless workers MST. The goal of this largest Marxist movement in Latin America is to enable people to own and use land. Of course, the movement arranges mass actions, one of which ended tragically a few years ago. Members of the MST blocked one of the key highways in the Amazon, the government sent police, as a result of a clash with them, several protesters were killed.

Milo Rau saw a rhyme between the ancient heroine, who was not afraid to bury her dead brother, and the Brazilian revolutionaries protesting against today’s capitalism. No matter how arbitrary or, on the contrary, straightforward such an association may seem to many, “Antigone in the Amazon” from an artistic point of view looks quite convincing. It is assembled from video footage shot in the Amazon and a “live shot” performed by actors on the NTGhent stage. So, on an almost empty stage in Ghent – Brazilian actor Frederico Araujo and musician Pablo Casella and Ghent actors Sarah De Baucher and Arne De Tremery. Moving down and up screens are videotapes of scenes played out in Brazil from Antigone and conversations with MST activists.

The main stage of the whole performance is a “reenactment”, that is, a reproduction, reconstruction of a bloody incident on the highway, a long-standing clash between demonstrators and policemen. Milo Rau himself is known as a master of theatrical reconstructions: once he became famous for the play “Radio Hatred” about the events in Rwanda, then the concept of “reenactment” entered theatrical use. The current kind of investigative experiment on the Brazilian road even caused a scandal in Brazil, but the journey and the game were worth the candle: the shots look strong, the energy of the protest is transmitted to the prosperous hall of the Ghent theater even through the screen. The reality of the class struggle also changes the theatrical reality: the Brazilian performer-activist Kay Sara, who was supposed to participate live, refused the role of Antigone shortly before the premiere. She decided that she was more important at home than in Ghent, and the premiere was even threatened with failure. But the situation was saved by joint efforts.

Milo Rau seems to be proclaiming the end of the hegemony of European culture, playing on the side of the opponents of globalization. But there is also an unpleasant question that hangs in the air: how, while proclaiming the fight against cultural imperialism, one does not fall into ill-fated imperialism? In the performance about Antigone there is a monologue, lyrical in tone, but frankly journalistic in content, by Arne De Tremery, where he directly reflects on the fact that European actors are no higher than Brazilian ones and that the only difference between them is that actors from Ghent can afford to travel to the Amazon, but Brazilian actors cannot come to Belgium. But, on the other hand, this is Milo Rau and his theater, not in words, but in fact, use Brazilian performers to create their performance, and the Brazilians will not be able to use the Belgians for any of their undertakings.

There is an ethical conflict. And now, when the correctness of the behavior of artists has become the subject of captious attention of society, it could destroy the reputation of the performance. But Milo Rau is saved because he is not just a fighter for justice, but a subtle and skillful director. He wins not as a politician, but as an artist – with rhythms and intonations, alternating close-ups and long shots on video, a combination of statics and dynamics, confidential intonations of his actors, and the correct construction of dialogues on stage and screen. And the almost operatic magic of the finale does not convey social optimism at all, but an artistic numbness in the face of a truly tragic imperfection of the world. And the fact that any government today has nothing to present in its defense only strengthens the “Antigone effect”.