Antigone

 The good thing about Gorgeous Dave is that he is up for most things socially and like me is keen to experience theatre which is out of his normal “ comfort box” .

Last night it was his turn to choose a venue and so he bought tickets to the Greek tragedy Antigone followed by an eclectic performance by a mixed group of deaf stand up artists described as A Night Of Sign.

All this was based at Chester’s Storyhouse theatre.

Initially I thought it was all going to be a bit of a slog, as the ancient Greeks were all a bit serious what with Oedipus shagging his mother Jocaster and the like but director Natasha Rickman with the writer Hollie McNish have forged a new telling of a story with deaf actors as the two leads and with British sign language and written captions enhancing the script and plot.

I didn’t know the story of Antigone and essentially it is a simple one. Antigone ‘s brothers, both kings of Thebes died fighting over their title . Their corrupt uncle Kreon becomes ruler and vilifies one brother over the other, refusing to let his body be buried and the story takes an interesting turn when the young princess Antigone stands up to the misogynistic king and defies him

The profoundly deaf actress Fatima Neimogha is stunning as Antigone .She not only acts through what is essentially a tough part but lives it with sign language and words complementing her words wonderfully.

   Unfortunately some aspects of the play didn’t work as well. The young, presumably student amateur actors in the supporting roles were wooden and awkward compared to the leads and the occasional use of 1980s pop songs intended to support and lighten the piece was a mistake.

But overall I enjoyed it.

The play was followed by an in house stand up performance by a selection of deaf performers which took place in the foyer barb of the Storyhouse. Deaf,comics, poetry performers, dancers and a rap artist took to the stage with the rapper Chris Fonseca(pictured) being a stand out (and I never thought I’d ever say that )

The whole evening sparked ( as it was intended to do) much discussion and debate on the car journey back, and it was almost midnight when I got home! 

This morning I’ve got off. I had rostered myself for an overtime shift to cover sickness but another nurse who lives a stones throw from the hospice volunteered  to cover saving me the long commute.

It’s breezy and colder today and I’m donning my pretentiously expensive  North Face jacket and woolly hat to take the dogs out.

It’s Liverpool later…..

It’s all go