What makes you feel personally connected to Antigone?

On the surface, something like a family curse might seem distant or unrelatable—but I interpret that as intergenerational trauma. That really resonates with me. Her relationships—with her sister, with both her brothers—are complicated and painful. And while the story seems simple—she wants to bury her brother—the emotional reality of that reverberates through everything. It’s not just one action, it’s all the familial weight behind it.

How do you think working on a classical Greek tradegy like Antigone compares to something like Shakespeare?

With any classic text — Greek or Shakespeare — it gives us permission to deal with big emotions. I love a lot of contemporary Australian theatre, and it often explores the small, intimate pains of everyday life. But these ancient texts let us go to emotional extremes that we don’t often allow ourselves in this culture. They’re cathartic.

Naomi Belet is playing ANTIGONE.