BWW Reviews: BAKKHAI, Almeida Theatre, July 30 2015

Bakkhai is the second of the Almeida's trilogy of the Greeks, following on from Oresteia and coming before Medea. Euripides' 5th century BC play has been boldly recreated by Robert Icke, translated by Anne Carson and is directed by James Macdonald.

It stars Ben Whishaw as Dionysus, the god of wine, religious ecstasy, fertility and theatre who charms the women of Thebes and drives them into madness, with them leaving their families to live in the hills. The king of Thebes, Pentheus is unhappy with this turn of events and bans ritualistic events in an effort to reassert his power. The two characters are opposites in every sense - Bertie Carvel as Pentheus is dressed in a sharp suit while Dionysus has long flowing hair and is mainly seen wearing a woman's dress with fawn skin.

After Dionysus convinces him that it is in his best interests to do so, Pentheus agrees to dress up as a woman in order to infiltrate the women in the mountain as he hopes to convince his mother Agave to return home. Whishaw is mesmerising and fluid in the role of Dionysus and his wicked manner is plain to see when he convinces Pentheus to follow him. At the end of the production his anger and displeasure is plain to see and results in Cadmus and Agave's exiles from Thebes. Carvel is also fantastic in his dual role of Pentheus and Agave when she returns to the city carrying the head of her son who she has slaughtered in her delirious, trancelike state.

The chorus of 10 women who initially start out the production dressed in normal clothes, eventually grow more and more wild as the play progresses, resulting in them wrapped in fawn skin outfits, with wild ivy tangled in their hair and war paint smeared on their faces. The Bakkhai chorus create a haunting soundtrack to the play. The set is sparse with the main stage surrounded by rocks and jagged edges from which the chorus sit and watch the scenes unfolding. The play has been wittled down to just under two hours with no interval and the time really does fly by with a steady pace throughout. With the news yesterday that Oresteia is transferring to the West End from August, it wouldn't surprise me if Bakkhai follows the same route.

Photo Credit: Marc Brenner