In Thebes, the cult of Dionysus is forbidden: the new king Pentheus denies the divine nature of Semele's son, provoking his deep wrath: the god himself then upsets the order and adulterates the minds of the Theban women. Among them, in the grip of Bacchic frenzy, is Agave, Pentheus' mother and Semele's sister. Thus begins Euripides' last drama, in which the power of the divine manifests itself in a cult capable of extraordinary things and able to break the chain of necessities that dominate ordinary life. Spokesperson for “phenomenal actions, miracles, whatever you want to call them” is the chorus of Bacchantes from Asia, voluntary and faithful followers of Dionysus.

 

Through Ezio Savino's original translation, a new experimental reading of the tragic text is staged. Thus, the “'Mpazzite”, the heroic Bacchantes pilgrims of Dionysus, sing a hymn that, in some way, reflects the sound and formal magma present in the original and which charges with meaning all the events that follow in the tragedy, starting with that incomprehensible doubling of creatures who, in slavery to the god, conquer freedom.

 

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In 2017, the show was staged at the Estate Sforzesca organised by the Municipality of Milan at the Cortile delle Armi. In 2024, it was staged during the summer season at the Roman Theatre in Gubbio (Perugia).

 

Dramaturgical direction: Elisabetta Matelli 

Stage direction: Christian Poggioni

Restaging: Eri Çakalli