Neil LaBute puts a 21st-century spin on French playwright Jean Anouilh’s 1944 adaptation of Sophocles’ classic Greek tragedy Antigone, itself a thinly veiled attack on the Nazi-allied Vichy government that controlled Paris during World War II, in the compelling, thought-provoking latest from City Garage.

 The set-up for all three versions of the Greek myth is as follows:

King Oedipus has died, decreeing that his sons Eteocles and Polynices should take yearly turns ruling the kingdom, a feat more easily said than done given neither man’s willingness to share the throne.

Civil war ensues, both men are killed, and for reasons of political expediency, the newly crowned King Creon, has decreed that only “good brother” Eteocles be given a proper burial and that “bad brother” Polynices’s body be left out to rot, though a flip of a coin could just as easily have led to the two brothers’ roles being reversed.

Unwilling to accept her uncle’s blatant display of self-interest, Oedipus’s daughter Antigone has gone against the new King’s wishes and buried Polynices herself, knowing full well that this will leave her uncle no other choice but to have her put to death, no matter that she is his niece, no matter that she is engaged to be married to his son Haemon.

Discussions of pragmatism vs. idealism, of calculated leadership vs. moral absolutism ensue, though as befits a Greek tragedy, the outcome is foreordained and before the actors take their bows, more than a few of the characters will have met their maker in the most violent of ways.

That Anouilh managed to outwit the Nazi censors and stage Antigone in Vichy Paris at a time when members of la Résistance were, like Antigone, fighting against authoritarianism is nothing short of miraculous, and given that LaBute wrote his “free adaptation”in 2018,  it’s easy to see why the themes tackled by Anouilh in 1944 rang similarly true 74 years later and ring even truer in 2025, making its arrival at City Garage as timely and as it is relevant.

Director Frédérique Michel once again displays her distinctive visual flair in staging LaBute’s adaptation’s U.S. Premiere, one that’s been strikingly designed by City Garage regulars Charles A. Duncombe (set, lighting, and audio), Anthony Sannazaaro (video and projections), and Josephine Poinsot (costumes).

 Michel signals from the get-go that this will definitely not be your ancestors’ Greek tragedy with the stroke-of-genius casting of Sannazzaro as a “Chorus” straight (or perhaps not so straight) out of Noël Coward (minus the British accent), the City Garage favorite making for the most dashingly handsome and archly urbane of (fake) cigarette smoking narrators and camera-snapping observers. (Having us see the pix he’s just shot as rear-screen projections is a neat design touch).

 Recent UCLA grad Anabela Nguyen makes an impressive City Garage debut as Antigone, investing the character with authenticity (there’s nothing “actorish” about her work) and enough spunk to give David E. Frank’s powerhouse Creon an opponent to be reckoned with.

Gifford Irving’s decision to play Guard One like a working class individual from the South (derogatory term redacted for political correctness) proves every bit as inspired as Sannazarro’s to play the character known as Chorus with wry sophistication and abundant élan, and newcomer Daniel Strausman gives Haemon equal parts hunkiness and heart.

Martha Duncan (Nurse), Dani Frank (Page), Alyssa Frey (Ismene), assistant director Ralph Radebaugh (Guard Two), and Hallie Stickley (Guard Three, Messenger) complete the largely effective cast.

Duncombe produces for City Garage.

City Garage scored a major coup last year with the World Premiere of Neil LaBute’s If I Needed Someone, and they’ve done it again with LaBute’s contemporary take on Antigone. Greek tragedy isn’t ordinarily my cup of tea, but this is no ordinary Antigone and I’m glad I sipped from the cup.

City Garage, 2525 Michigan Ave. Building T1, Santa Monica.
www.citygarage.org

–Steven Stanley
August 16, 2025
Photos: Paul Rubenstein

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Tags: City Garage, Jean Anouilh, Los Angeles Theater Review, Neil LaBute