Pentheus, the young king of Thebes, has banned the wild ritual worship of the god Dionysus, a young “foreign” god (in fact, the son of Semele, princess of Thebes, and Zeus). Dionysus has traveled now to his mother’s city, retinue of maenads in tow, to establish his cult in Greece. When he meets resistance  he drives the women of Thebes mad and sends them to the hills to partake in his worship. Meanwhile, in the city with his chorus of maenads, Dionysus takes on human form in an attempt to change Pentheus’ mind. The ensuing struggle between freedom and restraint, old and new, rational and irrational, foreign and Greek, man and god eventually leads to tragic death and devastation for the city. 

About the playwright: Euripides was one of the foremost playwrights in Greece during the 5th century. Of his 90 plays, 19 have survived including The Bakkhai, his final masterpiece. 

About the translator: Anne Carson is a poet, Classicist, and writer from Canada. She has translated over ten Greek plays over the course of her career, and her translation of The Bakkhai was first performed in 2015 at the Almeida Theatre in London.

See the attached poster for performance times.