Lnast month I had the opportunity to attend the International Theatre School’s Festival in Paphos, where theatre groups from different countries and cultures meet and present scenes from ancient Greek plays. Euripides’ Bacchae, presented by alumni of the PTTP University of Delaware (Tutor: Heinz-Uwe Haus), was the starting scene for the second night of the festival. Directed and designed by Ricardo Zeger, the excerpt was a combination of the 2nd and 3rd episode of the original play, where the god Dionysus, disguised, and Pentheus, the king of Thebes confront each other twice; once upon the arrival of Dionysus (the “meeting”) and another time after his escape from the imprisonment Pentheus inflicted upon him and the transformation of the latter into a woman to spy on the Bacchants (the “conversion”).

The selected scenes emphasize one of the most important patterns in the play, that is “antithesis”. There are a series of contradictions and each one is derived from the other; East vs. West, new vs. old, foreign vs. familiar and customary. These contradictions are impersonated in the figures of Dionysus and Pentheus respectively. Another issue that relates to the above mentioned is the dynamic intrusion of the first to the inert world of the latter and the subversion of the status quo. These central themes were explicitly shown in this short performance in a remarkable and unique way.

Eliminating all unnecessary elements, the performance was comprised only by two actors and their costumes, no mise-en-scene other than nature itself, no chorus, plain lighting. Standing in opposite sides of the stage long before their performance begins – like ancient statues waiting to be awakened – there was Pentheus (John Knauss) on the left side, wearing a long white costume and holding a sword, which underlined the ceremonial and authoritative character of his role, and Dionysus (Ricardo Zeger) on the right side, with white-painted skin and holding his black staff, both characteristics of his divine form, dressed in a black suit with a red tie and wearing black sunglasses as an element of his disguise. Only by looking at them, the contraposition is obvious and it is afterwards reinforced by their way of moving and their argumentation.

Once the music started, it gave the signal for the performance. Both actors started moving towards the centre of the stage, each in a different way but always in perfect accordance to the music; Pentheus with a steady walk, highly ceremonial and formal, appropriate for a king, and the disguised Dionysus with an ever-changing rhythm like he was a traveller on a journey. Even though they were just two, they manage to fill the whole space with their presence. When eventually they met, they did it in an unconventional way; facing the audience while their whole conversation was spoken towards it, thus creating an indirect confrontation between them, which was also narrative, emphasizing the impersonal power of the state on one hand and the indirect ways of the divine on the other.

Another interesting element was the use of the characters’ “native language” when referring to the god’s identity. Pentheus enquires the “stranger” about his origins using ancient Greek and, what was even more surprising, Dionysus answers in Japanese! This, along with the Japanese music accompanying the whole performance, provided Dionysus and what he signified with a new definition. It wasn’t only Dionysus that invaded the world of Pentheus that night, but also a whole different theatre culture that invaded the Cypriot stage.

But the three highlights of the performance were the revelation of the Dionysian rites, the escape of Dionysus and the “conversion”. Retaining the indirect communication between them, at least for the first two, they managed to be narrative and explicit, without using any text, but only movement. Dionysus reveals his ritual with a “dance” whilst Pentheus covers his face remaining static. Pentheus celebrates the imprisonment of the “stranger” by demonstrating his absolute power with a ceremonial movement while Dionysus escapes using his divine power. Dionysus transforms Pentheus into a woman by giving him his sunglasses, but at the same time he takes his sword and then he leads him to his doom, symbolising that he uses the king’s own power to destroy him, which is the most tragic element of the Bacchae.

All in all, this short excerpt of the Bacchae was a splendid mixture of ancient Greek drama, Japanese culture and the Suzuki acting method, performed wonderfully and skilfully by the two actors. It was a very different and interesting approach to the ancient play and I enjoyed it immensely!

© Electronic Communications from the International Brecht Society: ECIBS 36.1 (Winter 2008)