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Antigone during martial law
Andrzej Wajda Film-maker
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Ale w międzyczasie już zapadł stan wojenny i Antygona. Pomyśleliśmy, że to jest dobry temat. Bo cóż to jest Antygona? Antygona to jest dialog pomiędzy społeczeństwem i władzą – czego chce władza, a czego chce społeczeństwo. Kreon reprezentuje władzę, status quo, i Antygona, która ma wyższe obowiązki. Pogrzebanie brata jest nakazane z góry, z nieba. No ale postanowiliśmy zrobić nie tak Antygonę, jak ona się pojawia normalnie na scenie, tylko pomyśleliśmy o tym, że kto to jest chór? No chór w zależności od tego, jaką pełni rolę, przybiera inny... inny, że tak powiem, kostium. Na początku chór, który mówi tę wspaniałą pieśń do świtu, do słońca, że budzi się nowe życie, ponieważ bratobójcza wojna się skończyła to są żołnierze, którzy brali udział. No to ubraliśmy ich w panterki. Krystyna zrobiła takie kostiumy wojskowe i to – mówi – chór żołnierzy. No ale za chwileczkę Kreon wykłada swoje racje – do kogo? No, do swojego parlamentu, czyli oni już zdążyli się przebrać w ciemne ubrania i to już jest, że tak powiem, chór, który rozmawia jako parlament ze swoim, że tak powiem, no, z głową kraju. No ale za chwileczkę... i tu był właśnie cały problem, bo po tośmy tę sztukę wtedy wystawili, ale za chwileczkę chór przyjmuje na siebie rolę opozycji wobec władcy. No i wtedy ubraliśmy ich za robotników Stoczni w białych hełmach. No, ciężka to była sprawa. Tego się nie spodziewali po nas ci, którzy przyszli, że tak powiem, żeby ocenzurować ten spektakl. No ale nie było żadnego słowa dodanego, nie było nic, co można by było ocenzurować, ponieważ ideologia, jak powiedziałem, jest w słowach, a to były tylko słowa Sofoklesa. Tylko te kostiumy były... dawały do zrozumienia, bo w pewnym momencie, okazuje się, że ten tłum stoczniowców miał jeszcze na patykach portret Antygony, który wystawiał i pokazywał, że oni są po jej stronie, że oni tutaj przyszli, żeby bronić tej kobiety, która ma rację. Myślę, że to było przedstawienie na tamte czasy bardzo, że tak powiem, właściwe.

In the meantime, martial law was imposed, and Antigone - we thought it was a very good subject, but what is Antigone? Antigone is a dialogue between society and the authorities. What do the authorities want and what does society want? Creon represents the authorities, the status quo while Antigone has higher duties, the burial of her brother decreed from on high, by the heavens. However, we decided that Antigone wouldn't look the way she's normally depicted on stage, but thought about the chorus and what it was. Depending on the role it adopts, the chorus has a different costume, so to speak. At the beginning, the chorus proclaims that wonderful ode to dawn, to the sun about new life awakening now that the fratricidal war has ended, and these are the soldiers who took part in it, so we dressed them in camouflage gear. Krystyna made military costumes and these words were spoken by a chorus of soldiers. A moment later, Creon presents his case, to whom? To his parliament, so they've all changed into dark suits and now they're the chorus which is speaking as the parliament would speak with its head of state. However, a short time later - and this is where the problem lay as it was why we were performing this play then - the chorus adopts the role of opposition towards the authorities. So then we dressed the chorus to make them look like workers from the shipyard in white hard hats. It was a very sticky situation. Those who came to censor the play hadn't expected this from us. However, there wasn't a single word added, there was nothing there to censor because the ideology was in the words and they were only the words of Sophocles. Only the costumes were suggestive; at one point, this crowd of shipyard workers had portraits of Antigone on sticks which they held up as a sign that they were on her side, that they had come there to defend a woman who was in the right. I think it was a very relevant play for those times.

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda (1926-2016) was a towering presence in Polish cinema for six decades. His films, showing the horror of the German occupation of Poland, won awards at Cannes and established his reputation as both story-teller and commentator on Poland's turbulent history. As well as his impressive career in TV and film, he also served on the national Senate from 1989-91.

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Tags: Antygone, Creon, Krystyna Zachwatowicz, Sophocles

Duration: 2 minutes, 53 seconds

Date story recorded: August 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008