Antigone

Rights sold
Argentina (Losada)
Brazil (Editora Universidade de Brasilia)
Bulgaria (Fama)
China (Shanghai 99)
Germany (Langen Müller)
Greece (Goni)
India (Langer)
Italy (Marsilio)
Korea (Zmanz)
Kosovo (Libraria Dukagjini)
Macedonia (Cogress Service Center)
Mexico (Me Cayo El Veinte)
Poland (Uniwersytet Warszawski)
Russia (AST)
Serbia (NNK Internacional)
Slovenia (Slovenska Matica)
Spain (Comanegra, catalan language)
Turkey (Agora Kitapligi)

Presentation

After Sophocles, Jean Anouilh revives the myth of Antigone. Daughter to Œdipus and Jocasta, the young Antigone is rising up in opposition against the earthly law which forbids the burial of her brother Polynices’ body. First performed during the German occupation in 1944, Anouilh’s Antigone stages the perfect example of a character struggling in the face of power, injustice and mediocrity.

“Sophocles’ Antigone, which I have read and reread and always known by heart, suddenly hit me during the war. I rewrote it my way, echoing the tragedy that we were living through at the time.” Jean Anouilh

200 000 copies sold every year in France.

At twenty two years old, Jean Anouilh was hired by Louis Jouvet as a secretary at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. His first play, Humulus le muet, is brought on stage in 1929. During the war, Jean Anouilh keeps writing. His most famous play, Antigone, written in 1942, is brought on stage for the first time in 1944. Translated into numerous languages, Antigone is one of the most performed French plays abroad. The complete works of Jean Anouilh have been published in the prestigious Gallimard’s series La Pléiade and in La Table Ronde’s pocket series La Petite Vermillon.