Entering into a part and developing it requires skills which must first be taught and then practised. We used one such exercise to envision Kreon and Antigone confronting each other while waiting for a bus. In working with the protagonists, I have focused on the principle of necessity. I believe classical tragedy is a form of theatre that renders the essence of each of the great human emotions. Tragedy must, therefore, avoid irrelevant clap-trap.
Some real necessity has to be there for each and every word or action.
Both actors and audience must be able to feel this necessity, the electricity between the characters, when they interact. Quite a few people have a hard time doing this because the classical language is not our own, so I work a lot with Dutch text in the margin or between the lines. From the necessity of the different emotions and motivations, confrontations arise which move us very deeply and sharply. This is what a tragedy needs. By working in this way, we have achieved a certain kind of theatrical renewal within our tradition of ancient Greek theatre tradition.