The Bacchae

It was the persuasion of my english professor that I decided to catch the Bacchae in its last performance before the run ended at UCI. It was my first time experiencing watching a play here in college, and to say it quite simply... it blew my expectations.

Mintiusiu (or.. i forgot his name, the Romanian theatre director of the play) interpreted the classic greek story in three acts/three different interpretations. the first act reminded me of a traditional story; kind of, since it had a twisty character as dionysus. He reminded me of a cross between the old matthew bellamy and sweeney todd; he was demonic yet comically dry at the same time.

the second act was ...very interesting and disturbing... it was set in an urban warehouse that was very twisted and gory in its rituals for dionysus. it even involved a naked girl getting blood spilled on upon her... then other girls squeezing juice out of oranges and lemons on her while she lies on the ground... hmm. emphatically sexual.the blood and controversial death of the bacchae chorus at the end of act two was also very graphic and shocking; they all die in a position of labor and die with a high scream at the end. the energy of the actors were so powerful; the second play was riveting in the drug use (or so i think, cocaine), color (red blood), and smell factor of the oranges and lemons for the audience perception.

the third act was the most unexpected of all. they turned 'the bacchae' into a musical; it started off as a third-person narrative, like the behind-the-scenes story of two theatre directors turned doctors for a mental asylum. but in order to cure the patients, they use music to spark their memories. at first i didn't expect much because i was only expecting acting... but the singing was sooo impressive. it blew my mind. The lead who played dionysus had the MOST AMAZING voice. i swear, i want to marry him right at the moment he sang. i want to be multitalented too :(

in the end, the overall impact of the play was an astounding 4D experience (because of the oranges). everyone interpretation in each act is an interpretation that i didn't expect. it deserves more acclaim, and should be watched with an open mind and open heart. if anything, it sparked my curiosity to research more about greek stories, they always seem to instigate the most twisted and though-provoking plot content.