by Lulu Raczka, at the New Diorama Theatre January 2020
Director: Ali Pidsley
Set and Costume Design: Lizzy Leech
Lighting Design: Tim Kelly
Sound Design: Kieran Lucas
Photos: Ali Wright
‘All the elements of the production, directed by Ali Pidsley, come together to create a rich and striking aesthetic. The opening image is of two corpses, face down in the dirt, on top of a burial mound made up of gold concentric circles (designed by Lizzy Leech). The corpses are breathing and glittering gently. The corpses stand up and become Antigone and Ismene, dressed in sequins and grubby taffeta – princesses with an edge. When Antigone ventures off the mound – both gilded cage and refuge for the girls – to bury Eteocles, she heaves up a sheet of metal, cutting the circle in two. It is a striking visual metaphor for the growing rift between the sisters and, with Ismene crouched on one side talking to Antigone through the wall, anticipates Antigone’s sentence: to be imprisoned in a cave until she starves to death.’ Hannah Greenstreet, Exeunt.
‘Upon entrance to the New Diorama, Lizzy Leech’s set is striking: a golden circular pit filled with soil. The cast of two playfully work with this set; and combined with the lighting and sound design, pivotal moments are augmented by its presence.’ Niamh Flynn, Upper Circle.
‘In Ali Pidsley’s pacy production the pair start off half-buried in the black sands of Lizzy Leech’s striking circular set.’ Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out.
‘Lizzy Leech’s effective set, a raised, gold circle filled with soil and ash, perhaps alludes to the circular performance area which housed the wooden ‘stage’ at the first performance of Antigone at the open-air theatre of Dionysus on the hillside of the Acropolis. But, it also suggests confinement, literal and figurative’ Claire Seymour, British Theatre Guide.
‘Set in the elegant but eerie space of Lizzy Leech’s metatheatrical design, Tig and Issy play a series of games to try and distract themselves’ Ian Foster, My Theatre Mates