Jodie Whittaker to make National Theatre debut in Antigone
Story by Jack Foley
JODIE Whittaker is to make her National Theatre debut when she plays the title role in Polly Findlay’s forthcoming revival of Antigone.
The production will open at the Olivier on May 30 (with previews from May 23).
Based on Sophocles’ classic Greek tragedy, in which the laws of the gods and the laws of humans are pitted against one another, the production begins as Antigone’s world has been destroyed.
Her brothers lie dead on the battlefield while Creon, her uncle, has seized control of the throne, forcing her to stand alone against his tyranny and risk her life to bury her allegedly traitorous brother.
Whittaker first came to attention when she was cast alongside Peter O’Toole in the film Venus but she has gone on to star in the acclaimed films Good and, most recently, Attack The Block.
Her TV work includes Cranford, Marchlands and, most recently, The Night Watch (pictured).
And her theatre work includes Awake and Sing! and Enemies (at the Almeida), The Storm (Globe) and Bash (Trafalgar Studios).
Polly Findlay directed DC Moore’s The Swan and Prasanna Puwanarajah’s Nightwatchman for Double Feature in the National’s Paintframe in 2011.
She has also won the JMK Award for Young Directors and was the recipient of the 2006/07 Bulldog Prinsep Bursary at the NT Studio.