The Bacchae - Hampstead Parish Church

Ancient Greek sculptured scene apparently featuring Euripedes

It's taken me several weeks to get over this production, hence the delay in the review. This play was one sick puppy. I've managed to erase the content of most of the speeches in the second act from my memory, so I can't discuss them in detail. Just be sure that their subject matter was abhorrent, foul and deeply unpleasant.

A play hailing from ancient Greek times, The Bacchae is structured differently to your average modern play, with ridiculously long speeches and important events happening offstage and then described in said speeches rather than performed in front of the audience. Which was just as well for this disturbing oeuvre.

The Bacchae sees the women of Thebes eschewing their domestic duties and fleeing to the mountains to perform Bacchic rites, having been entranced by the god Dionysus (Matthew Williams). However, Dionysus, while initially coming across as fairly mellow albeit arrogant (especially in comparison to the uptight ruler of Thebes, Pentheus (Nicolas Holzapfel)), turns out to be a violent sociopath, wreaking horrific acts of vengeance on Pentheus and his family.

My highlights:

• The titular Bacchae. There were eight Bacchants who were on stage nearly all the time. The Bacchae were entrancing to watch - while they were a group, I liked the fact that they seemed to have distinctive personalities. For example, they reacted differently when the depths of Dionysus' depravity was revealed. Their interactions with each other - the hair stroking and loving looks and touching - made their ménage seem rather appealing. It was a shame they left Thebes to follow Dionysus rather than found a proto-feminist commune. The song one of them sang was really beautiful and I enjoyed the dancing too. Their movements were very fluid and well-choreographed.

• The barbs exchanged between Dionysus and Pentheus; the former provocatively laid-back and the latter displaying classic Type A personality traits. One felt more sympathetic towards Dionysus at this point but...this was to change.

• Pentheus disguised as a woman. Nuff said.

• The transition from amusement to horror. One minute we were all giggling at Pentheus and his female disguise, the next we were shocked and appalled. Since the horrific acts in question weren't depicted on stage, the person principally responsible for changing the play's and audience's mood was the Messenger (Catherine Martin), who recounted the sorry tale of Pentheus' fate. Her recounting of this story was moving and it completely changed one's feelings towards Pentheus and Dionysus.

• The tragic exchange between Agave, Pentheus' mother (Anna Rolfe), and her father, Cadmus (Simon Malpas). 

The Bacchae was well-paced, and even though I was aware beforehand that the speeches would be really long, they didn't feel long both because they were well-performed and because there were always interesting background happenings to watch, such as the antics of the Bacchae.

I give this production four papier-mâché heads and half a thyrsus out of five.

photo credit: Sebastià Giralt L'escena dóna una màscara a Eurípides davant Dionís, Museu Arqueològic d'Istambul via photopin (license)