The Facility and Other Texts – Re-imagining Antigone Re-imagined (EMC Cultural Conversations) (Hard copy)

The latest in EMC’s Cultural Conversations series, The Facility and Other Texts – Re-imagining Antigone is a collection of specially-commissioned new writing for KS3 by poets Valerie Bloom and Inua Ellams, short story writers Phoebe Roy and Barbara Bleiman and playwright Sarah Hehir, inspired by, and in conversation with, Sophocles’ play Antigone. 

The anthology also includes short commentaries by each writer exploring their own new writing in the context of the original to help students engage with the issues of the play alongside the new texts. 

This innovative collection, written with the support of the Classical Association, takes the study of classical Greek drama in schools to a new level. ‘The Facility’ works brilliantly as a stand-alone play for English and Drama work, as well as shedding light on Sophocles’ original text. The short stories and poems bring even greater depth and sophistication to the conversations established by this ground-breaking piece of work.

• A prose summary of Sophocles’ Antigone
• ‘The Facility’, a 60-minute play by Sarah Hehir
• ‘Being Antigone’, a short story by Barbara Bleiman
• ‘The Dragon and the Girl’ and ‘A Time’, two poems by Valerie Bloom
• ‘Rage Against the Machine’, a poem by Inua Ellams
• ‘I Heard One Cry in the Night’, a short story by Phoebe Roy
• ‘A Letter from Antigone’, a poem by Barbara Bleiman
• Commentaries by each writer.
• Rehearsal stills of 'The Facility'.

Please note: on page 48 of the text, one of Ismene's lines is attributed to Antigone. The corrected page is included in the free sample which can be downloaded from this web page.

EMC Blog on Teaching The Facility

Click here to read a blog in which two teachers reflect on the positive experience of teaching a contemporary drama with their KS3 classes.

Free downloadable resources available

• An introduction to Sophocles’ play, with some exploration of its enduring impact
• Ways in which it has been adapted over time
• The nature of tragedy and myth 
• Ways of exploring critically and creatively with the original texts
• Drama approaches 
• Suggestions for how students might write their own text.