Contra Antígona

Two high-profile figures come together in this thought-provoking play to challenge one of the most frequently portrayed myths: that of Antigone. Creator Andrea Jiménez, who, following Casting Lear– which won a Max Award in 2025 – continues to reinterpret the classics from a contemporary and participatory perspective. And Argentine playwright Victoria Szpunberg, who was awarded the National Prize for Dramatic Literature in 2025 for L’imperatiu categòric.

Jiménez transforms Sophocles’ text into a live, collective and civic meeting place. And every day, fourteen members of the audience will be invited to form a Greek chorus and bear witness to the tragedy. The role of the chorus has lost the prominence it originally held, generally in favour of perspectives that focus on either idealising or delegitimising the role of Antigone. But what if the chorus were the real protagonist of the tragedy, rather than the famous heroine?

Andrea Jiménez blends humour, politics, literary classics and her personal life in her works. She has directed theatre productions for the National Drama Centre, the Teatro de La Abadía and the Teatre Lliure, amongst others, and has taken part in national and international festival circuits. Contra Antígona is her second collaboration with Victoria Szpunberg, after Vulcano.

“Contra Antígona is not a case against the character, but an invitation to question heroic narratives in favour of collective intelligence, which may be capable of sustaining more complex and fruitful spaces for deliberation.”

Andrea Jiménez

Teatre Lliure, the producer of this show, has taken part in previous editions of the Autumn Festival, presenting productions such as Falaise by Baro d’Evel and Totentanz by La Veronal, a co-production by the Teatre alongside other major European festivals and the Autumn Festival itself.