Last night Stuart and I went to see Bakkhai at the Almeida Theatre in London's glitzy Islington.Starring the wonderful Ben Whishaw, making his Almeida debut, this Greek tragedy was an utter joy.
Pentheus has banned the wild, ritualistic worship of the god Dionysos. A stranger arrives to persuade him to change his mind. Euripides’ electrifying tragedy is a struggle to the death between freedom and restraint, the rational and the irrational, man and god.
Using three actors and a ten-woman chorus, echoing the original performance model, James Macdonald returns to the Almeida to stage Euripides’ hedonistic tragedy in a visceral new version by Anne Carson.
Ben Whishaw's Dionysos is sexy, funny, menacing. Bertie Carvel's Pentheus is excellent and when dragged up as his murdering mother is a hoot.
Recommended.
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