Teiresias Director Essay for the play 'Antigone'

How would you wish your audience to respond to the scene in which Teiresias confronts Creon? Explain how you would stage this section to achieve your aims. This section begins with Teiresias’ entry, led by a boy, and ends with the exit of Creon and his entourage to free Antigone from the vault.

Teiresias appears in the play just after Antigone’s final appearance in the play, after she has been sent to her death by Creon as punishment for her Crime committed against family loyalty. As the director, I would create a minimalistic stage configuration in thrust for this scene with a plain, black background. I would want the audience to be able to see the mechanics of the play so that the audience are given a ‘strange’ impression of the setting which would set the atmosphere of the entire play. This would also ensure that the audience are drawn to the characters of the scene rather than any distractions in the background. I would dress the character of Creon in golden robes; however Teiresias would be in just off white robes. This would demonstrate a contrast between Teiresias and Creon. In Ancient Greece, the colour gold symbolised wealth and money therefore power which implies Creon is superior with his status. The colour white symbolised innocence and goodness in Ancient Greece therefore implying that Teiresias is respectable. By making his robes just off white, the audience will instinctively realise the status different between Creon and Teiresias but with the meaning of these colours, the audience will be able to realise exactly who is speaking sense and who isn’t.

At the beginning of the scene, I would have a spotlight on Teiresias. He is the most important person within this scene as he contributes to a huge part of the storyline with what he is about to tell Creon. He would enter from the Left Parados led by his son, as the Left Parados represents leaving the wilderness. I would have the character of Teiresias looking crippled, old and scruffy with half