EKTORAS LYGIZOS – MUNICIPAL AND REGIONAL THEATRE OF LARISSA

The god Dionysus arrives at the city of Thebes, disguised in human form. King Pentheus struggles to fortify the city and himself against a religion that threatens to make everyone equal – current and former kings, gods and slaves, oracles and messengers, men and women alike – and transform the world into a place where humans are reconciled with their basest and purest instincts. The Bacchae is the only surviving ancient Greek tragedy to feature Dionysus both as a character and as the all-seeing director/author.
This production will explore the conflict between the main hero’s individuality and the polyphonic nature of the chorus. The choral interludes will be integrated into the drama’s main plot. Eight narrators will bear witness to the gradual coming together and subsequent dismantling of a mixed-sex group of Dionysus’ followers, documenting their resistance and their craving to mentally ascend the holy mountain as maenads and re-emerge as the Bacchae. The first stage of this initiation into the worship of the “Other” is to have two persons confront each other under the gaze of a spectator/witness.

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