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The Bacchae plays this August at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater
Jonathan Groff stars in The Bacchae
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Greek tragedies were always staged in open-air theaters, so it’s fitting to see Euripides’ The Bacchae where audiences can experience its wonders—at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Directed by Obie winner JoAnne Akalaitis and accompanied by a choral score by Philip Glass, the classic tale chronicles what happens when a government attempts to outlaw desire. Previews begin August 11 and the show runs through the 30th.
Staged under the auspices of the Public Theater, the seasoned cast includes Jonathan Groff (Dionysus), Tony-nominated for Spring Awakening, theater and TV veteran Andre De Shields (Teiresias) and Anthony Mackie (Pentheus), currently starring in the film The Hurt Locker. Since it’s Greek tragedy, expect rivalry and violence; characters rarely go gently into that good night on the ancient stage. Here, The Bacchae revolves around a conflict between the god Dionysus, also commonly known by his Roman name Bacchus, and Pentheus, a young king of Thebes. Dionysus is the god of wine and fertility, and the patron of ecstatic religions, in which spiritual or physical intoxication and secret rites figure largely.
A quick back story: Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Semele, a mortal mother killed by Zeus’ lighting bolt while pregnant. Semele’s family refuses to believe that Dionysus is the son of Zeus and spurns him. Rejected by his maternal family, he travels throughout foreign lands, gathers a cult of female devotees (the Bacchae) and returns home to take his revenge. In The Bacchae, Pentheus denies the god’s divinity and tries to eliminate the rampant religious fever sweeping his city. An enraged Dionysus comes to punish Thebes. Things get sticky when Pentheus realizes how far the religious frenzy has spread.
Euripides was over 70 and living in self-imposed exile in Macedonia when he created The Bacchae in 406 B.C.E. The play was produced the following year at the City Dionysia in Athens, where it was awarded the prize for best tragedy. Ever since, The Bacchae has occupied a special place among Greek dramas and particularly among the 18 surviving plays of Euripides.
“The Greeks are, along with Shakespeare, the other great pillar of democratic theater history. This is a chance for us to experience one of the greatest Greek tragedies as it was meant to be seen,” says Oskar Eustis, the Public Theater’s artistic director.