On the Brink – things are never just black and white
After three long years of an unfortunate lack of cultural events at our school caused by COVID, we were finally able to enjoy a play again. On Monday, November 14th, a group of four actors form Vienna’s English Theatre gave a performance of their new play “On the Brink”, a modern version of Sophocles’ famous tragedy, Antigone.
In summary, it is about a young woman called Antigone Nanrod, or Tiggy , and her moral struggle. Tiggy is very aware of global warming but her uncle Creon Nanrod is the CEO of an oil company. In the beginning she is in support of her uncle but in the course of the play, her friend Theo and the climate activist Liana Dunmo change her opinion. The group goes to extreme lengths to achieve their goals, leading to Antigone being sentenced to death at the end. One of the most prominent themes of the play is that nothing is ever a matter of black and white and there are good reasons for every standpoint, as the author often has Creon explain why he is harming the planet and Liana is portrayed as a flawed and even unlikeable character. The play also asks to what extent you can neglect others for the benefit of your family, apart from the obvious themes of global warming.
The actors all performed very well, although the man portraying Creon stood out as the best of them. Their use of a very minimalistic stage was also very interesting.
Valentin Green, 8c
