As a director of your prescribed text describe ways in which you

would create particular moods and atmospheres through your

staging or design concepts.
As Antigone is a tragedy the mood and atmosphere must be set from the
beginning, this can be done through a range of design concepts. The
mood throughout Antigone is sombre and this can be conveyed in many
ways. The two main however are lighting and sound.
The whole of the play takes place throughout one whole day. So, from the
stage direction, it is still night, it is clear that the prologue begins in the
dark, so a star cloth could be used to represent the night sky. As the scene
progresses the star cloth would fade and an orange wash would flood the
stage to represent the rising sun. White profile spots would be used to
highlight faces. This ultimately sets the time of day for the rest of the play
to follow on from.
The Prologue introduces the key characters. Antigone, who can be argued
as the protagonist of the play, would be dressed in a red toga. The red
would symbolise Antigones powerful personality when it comes to her
strong views about her brothers burial. This statement is backed up when
in the prologue Ismene states So fiery. This would costume would show
her to be a determined, rebellious and courageous character, who is
willing to sacrifice herself for her loyalty to her brother. The red would
then contrast to the soft pink of Ismenes costume. This is because they
have contrasting characters. Ismene represents the stereotypical Greek
female, this is shown through her speech when she says, remember we
are women, were not born to contend with men. This establishes the
contrasting personalities of the sisters. So whenever the two sisters are on
stage together you know there is the element of conflicting ideas between
them which automatically creates tension. Creon, however, would be
dressed in purple or royal blue. This would immediately let the audience
know that he is royalty or in this case, King.
At the beginning of the play, before the prologue even begins, Elgars
cello concerto could be used to capture the initial atmosphere if the play
as it is a slow tempo piece to show that there has already been tragedy
and that there is more to come. Again this piece would be used at the end
of the epilogue, underneath the chorus giving their last speech to create
the mood of severe loss and tragedy.
Also to secure the mood of death and loss in the epilogue the stage could
be given a red wash. This firstly would signify blood from the many deaths
that the audience have experienced throughout the play but also to show
the time of day. Considering it is the end of the play, it means it is now

also the end of the day in Antigone, this means there would be a red
evening glow of the sun setting.