Last modified: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 2:41 AM EDT Rachael Warren, left, is Antigone and Angela Brazil is Ismene in Trinity Rep's 'The Dreams of Antigone.' (Photo by Mark Turek) REVIEW: Trinity Rep's 'Antigone' still fresh after 2,500 years BY JAMES A. MEROLLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF PROVIDENCE - You can thank the ancient Greeks for the seven basic plotlines that pervade and frame all of Western literature. Even after 2,500 years, given a fresh eye and a new look, their mythic icons and protagonists still hold up. Trinity Repertory Company's ensemble take on the legend of the proud, doomed Antigone in its initial offering of its new season. "The Dreams of Antigone" upholds all of these ancient myths in splendid style. Artistic director Curt Columbus' latest interpretation - bolstered by input from the dozen actors of its cast during the collaborative, formative rehearsal process - is bold, forthright, intense and clean. Even stronger than its concise verbal power is the varied shading of its acting. This latest "Antigone" - a tragedy of warring often staged over the decades with "new" interpretations during various wars like Vietnam as symbolic protest - will not simply shock you, it will surprise you. Not bad for a text written by Sophocles approximately in 500 B.C. I couldn't count the many modern storylines inspired by Antigone and her cursed, incestuous parents, Oedipus and Jocasta. The blasts of Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" echoed in the ears with the shouting of lines like "My mother, my love! My father, my brother!" Over an evocative, flawless open set of stone and wood designed by Tristan Jeffers, director Brian McEleney has chiseled a tight 88-minute performance that begins with a Greek chorus and ends only the way these sordid tales can finish. In between are performances that can stand as Greek tragedy acting tutorials by a dozen members of the Trinity ensemble. There is no clutter here among the fallen stones. Each word has a kind of weight and propels the story forward to the next element of shame or doom, of betrayal or loyalty, pride or the removal of pride, hubris and the inevitable end of those exhibiting hubris. There are many deaths, but it is not bloody. There are many human shocks, but they flourish within the context of the specter of tragedy in what Antigone calls herself and her siblings, the spawn of incest between mother and son - we "unnatural and disgusting children." You know where this is going. The story? King Creon (a bellowing Fred Sullivan Jr.) has taken over the rule of Thebes in the wake of the bloody battle between Antigone's brothers, Eteocles (Mauro Hantmann) and Polyneices (consortium student Aaron Rossini). The pair "tear each other apart," and Creon's first edict declares that Polyneices, enemy of Thebes, must not be buried; instead, he must rot in the field as crows pick his carcass apart. Defiant Antigone (a formidable Rachael Warren) is determined to bury her brother at all cost. Despite gentle recriminations from the servants who weaned her (Barbara Meek, Anne Scurria and Janice Duclos), her fretful sister (a terrific Angela Brazil) and Creon's advisers (Joe Wilson, Jr. and Stephen Berenson), she honors both her brothers and pays a terrible price for it. There are other debts to pay out of loyalty to Antigone, the worst of which are borne by her fiance (the always good Stephen Thorne) and his mother Eurydice (Phyllis Kay, who makes the most out of two short scenes). The frankness and directness of this staging will leave you raw. There is little poetry here, no flowery soliloquies, and a few moments may feel preachy. But the acting is as rock solid as the scattered bits of marble strewn about the stage; the cracks in veneers as open as the many wounds which eternally pierce the storytellers. Who would have thought to go back 2,500 years to find a fresh show? "The Dream of Antigone" runs through Oct. 26 at Trinity Repertory Company, 201 Washington St., Providence, RI. Call 401-351-4242 for tickets or reserve them at www.trinityrep.com.