Antigone Remembers: Dramaturgical Analysis and Oedipus Tyrannos

Abstract

Dramaturgical analysis brings together theoretical issues of hermeneutics, text analysis and performance theory with practical, creative work in the theatre. It is a complex, heterogeneous activity connecting research and practice and is designed to reflect on, as well as to develop and enhance, creative work in the theatre. The aim of dramaturgical analysis, as it is examined here, is to open up new dimensions for productions of classical texts, by trying to illuminate these texts from new and innovative perspectives and laying the basis for integrative scenic images that can later be developed for the actual stage interpretation of this text. This article addresses some of the issues concerning dramaturgical analysis by examining the process that led up to a production of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos where the author worked with the Swedish director Leif Stinnerbom, the artistic director of the small and highly respected Västanå Theatre located in the Swedish province of Värmland. The Oedipus Tyrannos production analysed here was performed at the Odense municipal theatre in Denmark in 1999, where Stinnerbom was invited as a guest director.