CHORUS

Because there is no hope.

You will die.
Or, if not to die,
Then something worse than death.
There is no hope.
You cannot change it.
And because you can t,
You need not bargain,
You need not beg.
You can be brave as you never were,
For the worst has already happened.
(ANTIGONE takes out here phone and starts
tapping out messages furiously. The
following is punctuated by the familiar
“ping” of messages being posted to Twitter)

No.
You can t stop it,
So you say those things you never dared,
Not because they will save you.
Nothing so petty as that.
You say these things because they are true.
No more whimpering, no more sighs,
You shout and scream the deadly truth.
Arete.
(Satisfied, ANTIGONE puts her phone away)

The machine is perfect,

Ceaseless and unchanging.
And you are a bomb
In the heart of the machine.

(CREON bursts into the room, furious,

scattering the CHORUS to the exits)

CREON
What have you done? What have you done!

ANTIGONE
I buried my brother.

CREON
What have you done?

ANTIGONE

18
I posted the pictures. I told Thebes that Polyneices had been
buried. It s amazing what you can say in 140 characters.

CREON
Do you have any idea what you ve done?

ANTIGONE
Did you become king by continually repeating yourself?

(CREON slaps ANTIGONE. She does not flinch.

CREON is mortified)

CREON
I m… Sorry. I m sorry, I lost my temper.

ANTIGONE
I didn t know you had a temper. You always look so calm on TV.

CREON
You prideful little brat. You thought, what, that I wouldn t do
it? Wouldn t put you to death? It s the law, Antigone, the law—

ANTIGONE
No. I knew you d put me to death.

CREON
Well, I have to now! After what you ve done, broadcasting it to
the whole world, everyone knows now, everyone sees, it ll be the
end of the government if I look weak—

ANTIGONE
Is that all that keeps the state running? Your appearance?

CREON
Or… or, no, wait, if you take it back, repent, on television,
we ll have a press conference, you ll explain you were confused—

ANTIGONE
No.

CREON
It s the only way I can save you! Don t you see? It was the law!

ANTIGONE
Did Zeus write the law? Did Athena? Dionysus?

CREON

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Gods? You bring up the gods now?

ANTIGONE
I bring up what I believe.

CREON
Which shows just how foolish you are.
(softening)
Nothing more than a child.

ANTIGONE
I m sixteen.

CREON
A child. Caught up in things so beyond your years. Listen
Antigone, listen, whatever you believe, I have a city to govern.
I have taxes to raise and people to feed and a war to rebuild
from. These are real things, these are things that must be done.

ANTIGONE
Must they?

CREON
Just like your father, a romantic. But let me tell you, running
a nation isn t romantic. It s not about ideas and ideals. It s
about numbers and spreadsheets and polls. About getting things
done even if it is ugly, even if you have to cut corners. It s a
job, like any other job, and someday you ll understand that.

ANTIGONE
I don t want to understand that.

CREON
A child. And I m still your uncle. I ll call the press. We ll
explain, uncover the body, you ll issue an apology. I m… sorry I
slapped you there.

ANTIGONE
You re going to do worse.

CREON
What do you mean?

ANTIGONE
You re going to kill me. Because I m not going to “apologize.”

CREON

20
I m trying to help you! I want to help you—

ANTIGONE
I don t want you to help me. I want you to bury my brother. And
if you will not, then I will die.

CREON
But why? Why? Do you believe all that religions nonsense? You
think, what, there s some afterlife, some theme park in the sky
Polyneices won t get into unless you throw dirt on his body?

ANTIGONE
It sounds stupid when you say it like that.

CREON
It is stupid, monstrously stupid. Look, I know these so-called
priests. How they go through the motions without caring,
shoveling dirt into the grave while they think about dinner,
saying the prayers like it s a grocery list. It s nothing, an
empty show. You want to throw your life away over that?

ANTIGONE
If it s so meaningless, why won t you let him be buried?

CREON
It matters to the superstitious rabble I try to govern. It
matters to the religious zealots of the Argive Army.

ANTIGONE
Then maybe it matters to Polyneices.

CREON
He s dead!

ANTIGONE
Maybe it even matters to the gods. They say it does.

CREON
The gods are not here! They are not part of my government!

ANTIGONE
What else isn t part of your government? Justice, maybe?
Fairness? How about Truth?

CREON

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