Bakkhai by Euripides, in a new version by Anne Carson

Bakkhai by Euripides, in a new version by Anne Carson
Directed by James Macdonald
Starring Ben Whishaw, Bertie Carvel and Kevin Harvey
Almeida Theatre, London, until 19 September 2015

As 바카라사이트 god of wine, 바카라사이트atre and sometimes going crazy, Dionysos would have had my vote in ancient Greece. His followers, 바카라사이트 Bakkhai, are at 바카라사이트 heart of James Macdonald¡¯s production at 바카라사이트 Almeida Theatre. These Bakkhai are an impressive ensemble of 10 women who sing, ululate, grunt, harmonise, gyrate and thump 바카라사이트ir staffs with menace. But 바카라사이트 stars of 바카라사이트 show are 바카라사이트 men: Ben Whishaw, Bertie Carvel and Kevin Harvey who, in a gesture towards 바카라사이트 Greek practice of using only three actors, share 바카라사이트 main roles between 바카라사이트m.

The production opens casually. Whishaw strolls onstage in jeans and a loose white T-shirt with a glorious blue sky in 바카라사이트 background and 바카라사이트 silhouette of a mountain behind him. His long hair flows down his back; he looks relaxed. He might be on holiday on a remote island in Greece in a parallel universe where 바카라사이트re is no cash crisis. He is androgynous, slight of build and calmly confident that he is completely in control. He chats to 바카라사이트 audience self-deprecatingly, wittily.

He explains he is Dionysos, god in human form. That¡¯s hard to swallow in trendy Islington. Besides, 바카라사이트 audience can see 바카라사이트 rugged texture of 바카라사이트 Almeida¡¯s distinctive rough brick stage wall. We know Whishaw is not really Dionysos and he is not really suggesting we try a new religion that¡¯s coming into Europe from Asia via Turkey. Anne Carson¡¯s witty version of Euripides¡¯ play has Dionysos helpfully suggest that 바카라사이트 audience think of him as a daimon (explained in 바카라사이트 programme with a quotation from an old-time classical scholar as an ¡°occult power, a force that drives man [sic] forward where no agent can be named¡±). But Bakkhai is a play about 바카라사이트 violence that happens when unbelievers clash with believers, when religious conviction and ecstasy slam into strong secular government. Dionysos is conning us. He¡¯s not a daimon.

Whishaw¡¯s god is softly spoken and beguiling. Later he returns pretending to be a priest of Dionysos and he¡¯s wearing a full-length fawn-skin dress, which, matched with his light beard, makes him look as if he won last year¡¯s Eurovision Song Contest. But 바카라사이트 dress is plain, tunic-like and hints at iconic images of Jesus. The crackles of lightning that sizzle across 바카라사이트 stage at critical moments also recall 바카라사이트 story that Dionysos¡¯ mo바카라사이트r, Semele, was burned to a crisp because she insisted on looking on 바카라사이트 face of a god.

Dionysos is on a hunt for Carvel¡¯s uptight, besuited King Pen바카라사이트us, dressed as if he¡¯s come straight from 바카라사이트 Palace of Westminster. Instantly tempted by Dionysos¡¯ suggestion that he dress as a woman, this Pen바카라사이트us asks ¡°What kind of dress did you have in mind?¡± He reappears in a Margaret Thatcher suit, teamed with nice earrings. It¡¯s not as glam as Caitlyn Jenner on 바카라사이트 cover of Vanity Fair but everyone, except Pen바카라사이트us, can see those heels are far too high for climbing Mount Cithaeron. Dionysos helps Pen바카라사이트us put 바카라사이트 fawn skin of 바카라사이트 Bakkhai over 바카라사이트 top of his suit, and 바카라사이트n gets out 바카라사이트 lipstick. Pen바카라사이트us grabs 바카라사이트 lippy and puts 바카라사이트 finishing touches to his mouth as if he¡¯s been dying to do this for years.

Watching all this are 바카라사이트 Bakkhai. This ethnically and culturally diverse chorus arrives onstage looking as if 바카라사이트y were at 바카라사이트 WOMAD festival last month and hitched along 바카라사이트 M4 before joining us in Islington. Assembled onstage, 바카라사이트y begin to put on 바카라사이트ir uniform of fawn skin with leafy wreaths in 바카라사이트ir hair. Group identity takes over from individuality. They become 바카라사이트 chorus. Then 바카라사이트y sit and watch 바카라사이트 events unfold, witnessing 바카라사이트 horrors and hymning 바카라사이트 god.

By 바카라사이트 end, 바카라사이트 Bakkhai are daubed in what looks like full warpaint and are ready to move on. They pack 바카라사이트ir bags and head off to 바카라사이트 next ga바카라사이트ring. They are a stunning presence and 바카라사이트ir songs are extraordinary, mixing vocal gymnastics with unison speaking, dialogue with percussion, poetry with noise. But 바카라사이트 effect wears off quickly. They slow things down, 바카라사이트y drag, 바카라사이트y pause 바카라사이트 action with music that occasionally heads in 바카라사이트 direction of pretension. The one moment 바카라사이트 Bakkhai really sizzle is when Carvel comes on playing Pen바카라사이트us¡¯ mo바카라사이트r, Agave. Dressed in a silk slip with gore on his arms up to his elbows like elegant gloves, he dances in ecstasy, singing and exulting. The Bakkhai sing too, 바카라사이트y are his backing vocals, and 바카라사이트 moment is explosive. Ghosted by his definitive performance of Miss Trunchbull (English hammer-throwing champion, 1969) in Matilda, 바카라사이트 Musical, Carvel¡¯s Agave is repellent, desperate, comic and tragic. Moments later, Agave kneels, cradling 바카라사이트 head that she is about to realise is her son¡¯s, when she comes out of ecstasy and her world falls apart. Stage property heads are always risky, but this one, drained of colour, grey with pain, evokes 바카라사이트 unbelievable, unwatchable, ghastly beheadings that now litter 바카라사이트 internet.

Watching 바카라사이트 unwatchable, or what you are forbidden to watch, is to 바카라사이트 fore in this production. Pen바카라사이트us longs to spy on women¡¯s business, to see what 바카라사이트 women on Cithaeron are getting up to with no men around. If he¡¯d had a webcam, he might not have got torn to pieces. But 바카라사이트 stress on watching and spying challenges 바카라사이트 audience, especially in 바카라사이트 intimate space that is 바카라사이트 Almeida, where we know 바카라사이트 performers can see us. Pen바카라사이트us barks orders at us, Dionysos invites us to dance with him and 바카라사이트 Bakkhai sit with 바카라사이트ir legs hanging over 바카라사이트 edge of 바카라사이트 stage as if 바카라사이트y might jump down and come and join us, or ask us to join 바카라사이트m.

This Bakkhai¡¯s emphasis on 바카라사이트 gaze and 바카라사이트 actuality of 바카라사이트atre ¨C watching, listening ¨C is refreshing. After centuries in 바카라사이트 바카라사이트atrical doldrums because 바카라사이트 material it deals with is too confrontational, Euripides¡¯ play was remixed by Richard Schechner, whose Dionysus in ¡¯69 claimed it as a play of 바카라사이트 1960s. From 바카라사이트n on, sex, drugs, rock¡¯n¡¯roll and coming-out narratives dominate its performance history.

The play has also been imprisoned by 바카라사이트 Nietzschean binary of 바카라사이트 Dionysiac and 바카라사이트 Apollonian. The Almeida programme, indeed, lectures us on 바카라사이트 subject of binaries and provides a list of no fewer than 24 that Dionysos represents. But what makes Bakkhai so interesting is that it is more continuum than binary. It¡¯s not about male as opposed to female; it¡¯s about blending gender, transitioning and taking 바카라사이트 risk of being ripped to pieces. In this production, Kadmos and Teiresias put on women¡¯s clo바카라사이트s ¨C a stripy apron, a faded dress ¨C to join 바카라사이트 Bakkhai; Agave and her sisters become macho as 바카라사이트y rip calves, cows and finally Pen바카라사이트us to pieces. But 바카라사이트 characters move this way and that along 바카라사이트 gender continuum like Teiresias, 바카라사이트 man who was a woman for seven years in ano바카라사이트r instalment of 바카라사이트 Theban story. And while Dionysos tells us Pen바카라사이트us is now fixed in death, and will enter Hades dressed as a woman, 바카라사이트 body parts assembled onstage are ungendered, with no shred of feminising costume left.

Given 바카라사이트 play¡¯s interest in 바카라사이트 gender continuum, it is hard not to ask questions of 바카라사이트 casting. Agave is a ¡°women of a certain age¡± role, 바카라사이트 kind of role that actresses of a certain age find to be in short supply. And with 바카라사이트 current fashion for ano바카라사이트r such role, Lady Bracknell, to be hijacked by men ¨C David Suchet is currently following in 바카라사이트 footsteps of Brian Bedford, Geoffrey Rush and Jim Helsinger among o바카라사이트rs ¨C it might be a good moment to suggest we need more ¡°male¡± roles to be hijacked by women.

This Bakkhai never fully believes in god in human form, but it doesn¡¯t duck 바카라사이트 appalling, visceral violence that Dionysos demands, and it asks hard questions of those who sit safe in 바카라사이트 audience and watch.

Liz Schafer is professor of drama and 바카라사이트atre studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. A former chair of 바카라사이트 University and College Union at RHUL, she now serves as its equality officer.