Antigone brings in gongs

Sport for Jove wins seven awards for its production of Greek tragedy Antigone.

Sport for Jove director Damien Ryan, of Baulkham Hills. Picture: Adam Yip

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Sport for Jove has picked up seven accolades at the 2016 Sydney Theatre Awards.

The theatre company – which runs the popular Shakespeare in the Park each summer at Bella Vista Farm – received the awards for its production of Antigone, taking out Best Independent Production as well as Independent gongs for Best Director (Damien Ryan and Terry Karabelas), Best Female Actor in a Leading Role (Andrea Demetriades), Best Male Actor in a Leading Role (William Zappa), Best Stage Design and Best Costume Design (Melanie Liertz), and Best Lighting (Matt Cox).

The awards ceremony was held at the Seymour Centre on January 23, with 35 awards shared between 15 productions.

Sport for Jove's production of Antigone won seven accolades at the 2016 Sydney Theatre Awards. Picture: Marnya Rothe

Sport for Jove’s production of the Sophocles Greek tragedy was adapted by Ryan, of Baulkham Hills, and performed in Sydney, Canberra and Parramatta last October and November.

Ryan said receiving seven awards was “a great shock and surprise”.

“It’s great obviously for the company to have that kind of recognition,” Ryan said.

He added that he was particularly “thrilled” for the actors and the creative team who “dedicate their lives to creating work”.

“They work so hard and as everyone knows, people working in the entertainment industry in Australia and all over the world simply don’t get paid enough for their time and talent,” he said.

Ryan said Sport for Jove’s “contemporary version” of the Sophocles tragedy showed “just how much this old story is still about our modern world”.

“He (Sophocles) wrote a story about a girl who wants to bury her brother and he has become an enemy of the state,” he said.

“Everyone who commits a terrible crime has a family somewhere who loves them … and where does someone who loves someone who’s done something evil put that love?”

Ryan said while he was “thrilled with the recognition of the production” he took the award with “great humility”.

“I was saying on the night of the awards that it is sad that a play about something so ugly in the human spirit in a way can still be so accurate 2500 years after it happened,” he said.