Antigone Undone: Juliette Binoche, Anne Carson, Ivo van Hove, and the Art of Resistance

What can be learned from tragedy and the art of theater

In 2015 Will Aitken journeyed to Luxembourg for the rehearsals and premiere of Anne Carson’s translation of Sophokles’ 5th-century BCE tragedy Antigone, starring Juliette Binoche and directed by theatrical sensation Ivo van Hove.

In watching the play, he became awestruck with the plight of the young woman at the centre of the action. “Look at what these men are doing to me,” An­tigone cries, expressing the predicament of the dispossessed...