Antigone in Molenbeek + Tiresias

In a double bill of monologues, director Guy Cassiers tells the story of Antigone, a young girl who says ‘no’ to the authorities, and then the story of the blind seer Tiresias, who during his lifetime has been both a woman and a man. 

Stefan Hertmans and the young English slam poet Kae Tempest rewrote these classic myths in a contemporary idiom and placed them in an urban context. 

In Antigone in Molenbeek (Hertmans), the protagonist, a Muslima, wants to bury her dead brother, an ISIS suicide bomber. The authorities refuse to release his body and Antigone cannot carry out her process of mourning. In Tiresias (Tempest), the identity of the protagonist slips from man into woman into blind seer. From their isolated positions, Antigone and Tiresias each expose the suppressed sexual, social and political prejudices in society. 

Besides the visual technology, music also plays an important role. The two narratives, each in their own way, enter into a dialogue with String Quartet No. 15 by the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. 

Virtual Reality
Antigone in Molenbeek + Tiresias will be a special and intense theatre experience. Inspired by the corona measures and fascinated by visual technology, Guy Cassiers is using the possibilities of VR glasses for the first time.