Elliott Hudson College were proud to present an imaginative retelling of ‘Antigone,’ transformed into a modern-day military drama, using mixed media, music and dance as part of the performance. Anna McArdle, who played the ‘Messenger’ shares her experience working on the production.

The purpose of this production was to perform the Greek Tragedy ‘Antigone’, adapted into a modern-day, military style play to ensure that we, as students, understood it, as it is one of our set texts for A – Level Drama that we will be writing about in our external examinations. It was also to give us an idea of what performing in a theatre company would be like, if we chose that as a career path after we’ve left college, as the hard-work and effort we put into ‘Antigone’ would be reflected in a professional show, and this experience would be really valuable.

Throughout the rehearsal progress, I gained lots of confidence in my acting abilities, because working with such brilliant performers allowed me to push myself to improve my performance. ‘Antigone’ was a type of theatre that I’d never done before, so doing lots of physical theatre was new to me, however through perseverance, myself and the rest of the cast managed to learn it all and effectively convey the themes through our movements, which evoked my passion for performing. I also learnt the importance of time management and learning lines as soon you get a script to avoid rushing to learn them before rehearsals!

The best moment was undoubtedly our final performance, as it was the most polished of our run-throughs, and everyone was on a high from the matinee performance. We got excellent feedback from the audience, which solidified how impactful our performance was. What I also enjoyed was the bonds between cast members, as we all got along so well and worked as a team to support each other. Although I am sad the show is over, I am glad that I have met people that I can still keep in contact with, and will hopefully perform with them in future shows at Elliott Hudson.

Richard Wilcocks, Leeds Living, reviewed the final performance calling it “superbly organised and beautifully synchronised.”

After starting Elliott Hudson College a week later than my peers, the thought of auditioning in front of so many new people was terrifying. However, my nerves were lost as soon as I entered the theatre, and since then I have been so glad that I made the decision the audition all those weeks ago. Throughout the rehearsals, we, as a cast, pushed ourselves out of our comfort zones, and although it was hard at times, the end result was so worth it, because my confidence in my acting abilities has improved greatly (especially after not performing to large audiences for many years), and I have met so many kind, talented people.