After successful productions of Roman comedies for the last three years, the Classics Department decided to return to the world of Greek drama this year with a production of ‘The Bacchae’, a tragedy by the Greek playwright Euripides.
The Play
As the play begins, Dionysus (Chris Heining) has returned to Thebes, in disguise, to wreak revenge on Semele’s sisters for not believing his mother years earlier and the new king of Thebes, the young and hot-headed Pentheus (Luke Sperry), for refusing to worship him and acknowledge him as a god in his city.
Dionysus has brought with him a chorus of his followers from Phrygia (led by Isaac Murdy) and they have initiated many women of Thebes into the new religion, including Pentheus’ mother, Agaue (Gemma Isherwood) and the rest of Semele’s sisters, who have unwittingly been driven into madness and frenzy by Dionysus.
The play focuses on the hostile confrontation between the king and the god and the fact that Pentheus, as the grandson of Cadmus (Will Nolan), is Dionysus’ cousin, adds to the intrigue of the drama.
