How is protest defined? Does it require a show of physical strength? Or can art in all its forms protest in its own unique way? This essay aims to answer that question, showing a range of ways in which art, more specifically plays and literature, can work as a form of protest. This essay will discuss Antigone and The Island and examine how these two pieces interlock with one another to protest tyranny, fascism, and racism.
Turning to Antigone to begin with, it could be said that Antigone is the original tale of standing against authority. Antigone is a tragedy written by Sophocles, which follows the ruling family of Thebes. After a civil war between two brothers, the new ruler Creon forbids the burial of Polynices, one of Antigone’s brothers, for betraying Thebes and bringing a foreign army to retake the throne. In an act of protest and defiance, Antigone attempts to bury her brother anyway, leading to her arrest. After a back and forth between the ruler Creon and the rebel Antigone, she is sentenced to death and takes her own life rather than starve to death. This leads to Creon’s son Haemon taking his own life due to being engaged to Antigone. The message being a tragic one about power, protest, and a battle between total authority and personal beliefs. When caught Creon and Antigone get into a heated debate in which a key line is spoken by Antigone which can support the narrative of defiance and protest:
“For all your crown and your trappings, and your guards—all that you can do is to have me killed.” -Sophocles Antigone
This line is Antigone laying the main theme of protest out for all to see. Noting the crown, trappings, and guards which in this context represent the power of the ruler and going on to almost mock the power he wields with the phrase ‘All that you can do is have me killed.’ By saying this, Antigone belittles Creon and the power he wields by minimizing her own death, seeing the action as almost pitiful. Although Creon is now the ruler, and can do as he sees fit, to stop her, he must kill his own niece and to belittle her own death in such a way brings more credence to the theme of protest, as her own death does not matter in the larger scheme of things as her death will be a stepping stone for others to take her place. The play was used in many settings to protest things that were viewed as unjust. Ireland played host to a modified version written by Seamus Heaney (2004) viewed the play through the lens of a post 9/11 world and the beginnings of the Iraq war as well as drawing on older Irish folk lore. Paris played host to a version of Antigone by Jean Anouilh (1944) in which parallels to the Nazi occupation and the Vichy regime could be made to Creon with their authority and iron clasp on power. A more recent reimagining of the famous piece occurred in Missouri (2016) in which the Theatre of War used Antigone to respond to the shooting of Micheal Brown, an 18-year-old African American by White American police officer Darren Wilson.
It is clear Antigone is used by many who suffer under authority and injustice. One of its more famous uses would be its use in The Island.
The Island is the love child of Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona, formerly known as members of The Serpent Players. The play can be defined as a protest piece in its themes of unjust imprisonment and standing up against the unjust rule of authority. Its use of Antigone, especially in its final scenes in which a call to action and an urge to fight against the system cements the idea of protest. The two main characters John and Winston transform in this final scene, from the chummy relationship we see, the ad-libbed conversations and constant support are replaced with Winston’s fiery performance as Antigone, urging the prisoners to stand up to the guards, who could be viewed as the personified version of the apartheid system The South African regime enforced at the time. The pair partake in back breaking labour every day, as if the states attempt to break their spirit has been brought to life as an act, they must partake in. They decide, in between the improvised dialogue allowing a window into the two usually reserved for long form entertainment, to perform a scene from Antigone, the scene between Creon and Antigone.
The island is a very personal piece. It invites the audience in unlike many other productions. The audience get to see the relationship between the two prisoners in an undiluted setting, it feels raw and personal. By the time we reach act three and their performance begins, the audience get sucked in, almost as if they have become the third actor in the play. Bearing witness to Winston’s passionate speech which changes the language used throughout. It is also within this act a key quote can be found which can provide the goal of this protest piece:
‘Yes, they’ll laugh. But who cares about that as long as they laugh in the beginning and listen at the end. That’s all we want them to do … listen at the end!’ John, The Island Page 85
The ‘want’ for someone to listen is key for this protest piece, during the time in which is was developed, South Africa was ruled by a white majority government who enacted apartheid and did not listen to anyone around them who viewed apartheid as anything other than the right thing to do. By forcing the audience to listen, it allows for the performers to rail against the system and change the viewpoint of some in the audience. Throughout, both John and Winston speak using slang terms at a casual pace. As soon as the pair begin to perform the casual tone is gone. It is replaced with a formal dialect with a forceful and deliberate pace, allowing for Winston to embody Antigone, showing the audience how deeply intertwined the two are with one another.
Both Antigone and the Island are stories of defiance. Antigone shows defiance against a ruler, whereas The Island shows defiance against the system. South Africa during the apartheid era was a brutal place to live if you were not white, due to the South African government enforcing strict segregation, defunding and ignoring black communities with atrocities against struggling black communities being commonplace. Those who chose to stand up against the system would be killed or imprisoned in the dreaded Robben Island Prison which by no coincidence is the setting of The Island. Imprisonment by a higher authority is also a key theme running through both pieces, Antigone is imprisoned for standing up to Creon, and both Winston and John are imprisoned for standing up to the South African government and their systems of Apartheid. A key difference is in how they are defiant. Antigone shows her defiance in her defence of her stance, and then her removing power from Creon by taking her own life. John and Winston remove the power from the prison around them by performing Antigone’s speech and providing each other with constant support. Even when this is threatened when John is informed, he will be granted early release, the support they show each other is unwavering and a key factor in their defiance.
Their defiance against the systems they are trapped in is an effective form of protest because of its ability to strip those who are in authority around them of power. It bears the sins of those who control them in plain view and forces them to confront their shortcomings. It is a genius way to bring the shadowy use of power and control into the light for all to see, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem. In Antigone, the audience gets to see the full fall out, with the ruling family in ruin, Creon finding his niece dead by her own hands and his own son soon after. Whilst it could seem heavy handed, it is a perfect method in which to show absolute power corrupts and ruins those around it. It forces a confrontation for the audience, pushing into the view power structures they could see as unjust but choose to ignore. It protests the ruling class and some of their barbaric practices and has become so effective it has crossed boundaries time and time again.
The Island also follows in this tradition, although a more recent production, it drips with the same protest Antigone was born in. It too forces the audience to look at the world, more importantly the sin of apartheid, and reckon with it. This is done on a more personal level by forcing the audience to become part of the play, acting as the crowd of prisoners watching the two men perform. It could be seen as a wider metaphor of fighting against unjust power in all its forms. Whether that be the apartheid of South Africa, or more modern-day examples, such as the rise of the far right, the infringement of civil rights in America, or even in the UK. The message of protest these two pieces bring is one that defies time and situation. It differs from Antigone in its use of the audience. Antigone keeps the audience as merely observers, whereas The Island uses the audience to its advantage, strengthening the message of protest and solidarity it is trying to convey. Whilst both use their audience in a different way, it does not take away from either as a form of protest media.
This essay has examined both pieces in the vein of protest and provided evidence on how they are effective. Antigone has been shown to be the original protest piece, how it uses tragedy to show how unchecked power can destroy and how the ruling class should be held to account. It’s use of a butterfly effect like ending shows how the rippling effects of power and abuse of said power can cause untold damage. The Island takes protest from a more personal angle, allowing the audience to gain a full picture of the characters with its slag language and easy going pace, only to drag the audience in at the end to bare witness to its message of protest an unjust system. Removing the friendly and cordial vibe and replacing it with one of uncomfortable truth and defiance. Both pieces use the overall theme of protest to their advantage and provides its audience with a mirror of society to investigate, an imperfect image showing the flaws, and forcing a form of reckoning with what is taking place around them. That is the key to creating a good protest, and it is something the people of today should hold dear to themselves as protest is the key to a fair and equal democracy.
Sophocles: Taylor, D. (trans.) & Varakis, A. (ed.) Antigone (Student editions) 2006
Fugard, A. Walder, D. (ed.) The Township Plays: No-Good Friday; Nongogo; The Coat; Sizwe Bansi is Dead; The Island 1993
Manic Writer 