THE BACCHAE. To 22 September.
London
THE BACCHAE
by Euripides new version by David Greig from a literal translation by Ian Ruffell.
Lyric Theatre Hammersmith To 22 February 2007.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat 2.30pm & 19 Sept 1.30pm.
Captioned 20 Sept.
Runs 1hr 55min No interval.
TICKETS: 08700 500511
www.lyric.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 September.
Exhilarating examination of excess from the National Theatre Scotland.
Within ten minutes the audience were cheering and applauding. By the end there was the silent concentration that lies behind the critical term “stunning”. Helped by David Greig’s fluent yet artful script, director John Tiffany gives Euripides’ tragedy showbiz pzazz, character depth, and a crime-play sense of motivation.
New god on the block Dionysus descends from above in dress-like garb and platform soles, draped like an unfurling pennant. No wonder he calls it “a close-run thing” whether he’d arrive as man or woman; both are contained within this divinity of the wild imagination, the id over the ego. His Bakkhai follow him in the form of a Black women’s choir; two, at least, also present long speeches with tremendous expressive range.
These Bakkhai become silent in his long absence. Not so his frenzied women followers on Mount Kithairon. But they are Thebans. And Dionysus has a thing about Thebes, the town which denied his power. His isn’t a religion of forgiveness and he’s out to destroy the city's governing class.
Principal victims are Tony Curran’s initially-confident, tightly-rational King Pentheus and Paola Dionisotti as his mother Agave, who only realises the horror of her situation when the drug of bacchic exhilaration wears off. It’s Dionisotti whose eventual awakening is so stunning, her energy fading like a suddenly-dying battery as confident joy dissolves in the light of reality and realisation.
Alan Cumming’s Dionysus is disruptive from the start, teasing the audience with repellent fascination; a star-turn by a god who loves the limelight. But his fascination for us mirrors the glamourising that’s going on up Kithairon. Apart from Iago and Frank Wedekind’s earth-goddess Lulu, few stage figures have been as disruptive. But Dionysus has neither the motivelessness of the one, nor the other’s innocence. He knows what he’s doing and why, something he justifies by a divine-sized ego that’s replicated in many a murderer.
Tiffany’s production makes this clear as its spectacle – including a stage-wide burst of flame as, with one bound, Dionysus is free from Pentheus’ prison – gives way to the cold aftermath. Another triumph for Scotland’s National Theatre.
Dionysus: Alan Cumming.
Pentheus: Tony Curran.
Cadmus: Ewan Hooper.
Tiresias: Ralph Riach.
Agave: Paola Dionisotti.
Bacchae: Michelle Asante, Lynette Clarke, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Marcia Mantack, Gloria Onitiri, Denise Orita, Ann-Marie Roberts, Jessika Williams, Emi Wokoma, Sandra Yaw.
Director: John Tiffany.
Associate Director/Choreographer: Steven Hoggett.
Designer: Miriam Buether.
Lighting: Colin Grenfell.
Sound: Christopher Shutt.
Composer/Musical Supervisor: Tim Sutton.
Musical Director: Nigel Lilley.
Special Effects: The World Famous.
Associate sound: Colin Pink.
2007-09-11 13:07:06