By KATHIE RALEIGH
Lifestyle Editor

PROVIDENCE — Is it discouraging to realize we humans have been struggling with the same issues throughout our existence, or at the very least some 2,500 years?
The case in point is “Antigone,” a play written those thousands of years ago by the Greek Sophocles yet now is the current production at Trinity Rep.
Trinity’s artistic director, Curt Columbus, has written a new version of the play, which he calls “The Dreams of Antigone,” that emphasizes relevancies to the 21st century.
But the ancient themes remain the same, including the central one: What’s a person to do when her sense of right and wrong is contradicted by the government?
Audiences will mull over the issues after the performance, but during it they will be engrossed by the play and the wonderful acting before them. They will be comfortable with how clearly the tale is told even if they’re not familiar with Greek drama, and they will be surprised to see how dashes of humor fit in quite naturally.
The best part of Columbus’ script, of Brian McEleny’s direction and Tristan Jeffers’ set is how all those elements are old and new at the same time.
The setting and circumstances are old. Antigone’s brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, were supposed to alternate as rulers of Thebes, but when Eteocles refused to leave the throne, a civil war broke out, with the brothers leading opposing sides. Both were killed, leaving their uncle, Creon, as the king.
Because he sees Polyneices as the troublemaker, Creon rules that his nephew’s body must not be buried, a sacrilege to the Greeks who thought burial was part of the transition to the next life. He vows to put to death anyone who goes against his order.
Antigone is outraged. Burying her brother, she believes, is “the right thing to do,” no matter what Creon has ruled and no matter what the consequences are to her.
The specifics of Creon’s order are stuck in ancient times, but defying the government is as contemporary as the latest war protest. Antigone’s full-throttle approach is just one response, and Columbus uses a host of characters to reflect different ways of responding. There is housekeeper Agave’s insistence that if the king rules it, the people must follow it, whatever “it” is, because he’s the ruler. 
Several characters urge Antigone to back off not out of a sense of right and wrong but just to save herself. Then there is the cook, Meletia, who is closer to Antigone in principle but who feels much more helpless to act. But that doesn’t stop her from spitting in Creon’s soup.
That’s turned into one of the improbably funny spots in the play. Meletia’s listeners are grossed out, even as she explains she didn’t spit into “the” soup, just “his” soup. Actress Janice Duclos turns this line into a gem.
Anne Scurria is funny, too, in a role as an inebriated servant but gets serious as the tragic Jocasta, Creon’s sister, who married her own son, Oedipus – and begat Polyneices, Eteoclese, Ismene and Antigone. (All this is made clear in the production.)
Those, however, are the supporting roles, and what they “support” is consistently fine acting. Fred Sulllivan Jr. shows us a Creon who digs in his heels when he is challenged. Phyllis Kay brings nuance to the character of Eurydice, Creon’s wife.
It is Rachael Warren, however, who is in the spotlight as the strong-minded Antigone. She defies, she agonizes, and then she’s especially effective when, for one brief moment, she admits she’s scared. 
The cast often performs as that ancient of devices, the Greek chorus, making pronouncements rather than conversation. Then, the actors switch gears and create individual personalities in a more contemporary style.
The set is a creative imagining of a Greek ruin under modern restoration, which is one way to look at it. Or you could imagine it’s just Creon’s house being rebuilt 2,500 years ago after a destructive civil war.
This production defies notions about weighty, overwrought Greek drama without turning the play into Sophocles-lite. “Dreams of Antigone” is accessible, satisfying theater.
Performances are Tuesdays through Sundays through Oct. 19, evenings at 7:30 p.m. and selected 2 p.m. matinees, in Trinity Rep’s Dowling Theater, downstairs at 201 Washington St. Tickets are $20 to $60 at the box office, by calling (401) 351-4242, or online at www.trinityrep.com.