ARCH-CONSPIRATOR

Roth's retelling of Sophocles's ANTIGONE, stunningly performed by Dion Graham and January LaVoy, is set in a dystopian future in Thebes, the last habitable city on Earth. The tyrant Kreon holds Antigone and her siblings--the children of his vanquished rival--in genteel yet uneasy captivity. Tensions come to a head when Antigone's brothers kill each other in battle and Antigone fiercely defies Kreon's order to abandon her brother Polyneikes's body. Chameleon-like, LaVoy smoothly switches from channeling Antigone's quiet rage to bringing out the gentleness and youth of her sister, Ismene. Graham's grizzled, blustering Kreon contrasts exquisitely with the earnest loyalty of Kreon's son, Haemon, and Polyneikes's ebullient recklessness. Together, the narrators capture the propulsive motion and ominous atmosphere of this compelling story. S.A.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2023]