"Antigone Undone offers an urgent and mesmerizing account of the creative and destructive power of great art. In 2015 Will Aitken journeyed to Luxembourg for the rehearsals and premiere of Anne Carson's translation of Sophokles' 5th-century BCE tragedy Antigone, starring Juliette Binoche and directed by theatrical sensation Ivo van Hove. In repeatedly watching the play, he became awestruck with the plight of the young woman at the centre of the action. "Look at what these men are doing to me," Antigone cries, expressing the predicament of the dispossessed throughout time. Transfixed by the strange and uncanny power of the play, he finds himself haunted by its protagonist, finally resulting in his own suicidal breakdown. With a backstage view of the action, Aitken illuminates the creative process of Carson, Binoche, and Van Hove and offers a rare glimpse into collaborative genius in action. He also investigates the response to the play by Kierkegaard, Virginia Woolf, Judith Butler, and others who, like him, were moved by its timeless protest against injustice."--

Preface -- part I. Three days in Thebes -- part II. Handful of dirt -- part III. Thinking Antigone -- coda. Antigone in Autumn.