Creators: CHOREA Theatre, Earthfall
Direction: Jessica Cohen, Jim Ennis, Tomasz Rodowicz
Music: Maciej Rychły, Roger Mills, Paul Wigens
Choreography: Jessica Cohen
Cast: Susanne Firth, Dominika Krzyżanowska Gorzkiewicz, Dorota Porowska, Izabela Śliwa, Elina Toneva, Roger Mills, Gerald Tyler, Paweł Korbus, Tomasz Krzyżanowski, Tomasz Rodowicz, Paul Wigens
Premiere: 3.11.2006 (Theatre Brycheiniog, Brecon, Wales), 17.11.2006 (Współczesny Theatre, Wroclaw, Poland)
The performance Bakkus based on Euripides’ Bacchae is the third part of the trilogy created by the Welsh and Polish theatres – CHOREA and Earthfall. This time, the initial point was the will to experience a more thorough penetration of the violent cultural and social changes we witness and the overwhelming feeling of standing on the crossroads of our current path and the necessity to look for a new language of the theatre. Can the antiquity answer the basic questions posed in the modernity? The cooperation between CHOREA and Earthfall has never consisted in reconstruction, stylisation, paraphrasing or quoting from the antiquity, but they have always strived to answer the essential questions regarding the cultural, ethical and social identity of a citizen of a great European metropolis in the 21st century. The antiquity is like a mirror which enables us to look from a salutary distance at the most biting issues of today. We consistently build a bridge between the antiquity and the modern day, as we are positive that the tension between the oldest and the most modern parts of our cultural heritage opens new perspectives for the theatre.Bakkus again witnesses the collision of the radical movement of modern dance, language, choral singing taken from the ancient Bacchae text and jazz-rock music performed live so that the juxtaposition of cultures results in an interesting and dynamic combination.
Euripides wrote Bacchae as his crowning achievement during his exile in Macedonia, located far away from Athens. This drama warns us against the conflict between the law and religion, zealotry on the one hand and abuse on the part of authorities on the other. It also warns us against the crisis of values and the horrors of collective responsibility. Dionysos/Bacchus is a manipulator, a charismatic leader who has been through a lot, and who wants to play god.
