The Bacchae is a retelling of the play by Euripides, a centuries-old mythological tale involving gods, kings and a lot of revelry. It’s from the Scotland-based Company of Wolves, developed closely with the School of Classics at the University of St Andrews. It was directed by Ian Spink, a renowned figure in dance and theatre who sadly died a few weeks after the premiere.
Ewan Downie takes to a stark stage wearing a dress and jacket and sings to us in ancient Greek (or maybe it’s Latin), building up the tempo and intention. He then engages the audience with a powerful performance, using just his voice and movement to immerse us in the story.
The set and costume design by Alisa Kalyanova is simple but effective and makes great use of neon light tubes propped up in supermarket crates. This lighting, designed by Katharine Williams, is crucial to the action and turns the stage red, flashes strobe-like or dims to enhance the words. Equally, the soundscape by Anna Porubcansky, who also collaborated with Downie to compose the songs, is crucial to the action. It’s a skilful sound designer who can create an atmosphere without you realising that the sound is even there.
However, I found my attention wandering during The Bacchae as the words are so dense and come so thick and fast you can lose track of them. The jumps between characters in this mythological world help to capture your attention again, but overall I felt there wasn’t enough going on visually. The three supermarket crates which dominate the backdrop are never moved or used, and there is only one prop: a red coil of rope that becomes integral to the action, thankfully giving us some visual focus.
The Bacchae relies upon the one performer, Downie, who contorts and moves his body with immense skill and uses his voice as an instrument to tell the story. Sometimes simplicity is a good thing, but it all goes at the same unrelenting pace and borders on indulgent at times — for instance, the song at the beginning was just too long. At times it felt like we were watching an extended poetry reading. Yes, it’s a masterclass in acting but not necessarily in creating imaginative and engaging theatre.
