I am pregnant. The chorus wants to come out of me. The masses want to become godly. I say why not? If the father became a god. And the son also became a god. Why can’t the masses become holy? I can make a god of the masses. I can give them ecstasy. The masses will have to make miracles for me to proclaim their godliness. And we need a god of plurality, of multiformity, a god that multiplies equations, a god that lays countless eggs, a god that creates Antigone as Anti-Gone, a god that is the chorus of voices of the masses.
A new-gen rap tragedy that reimagined the Bacchae as a pack of fierce, individualised fangirls in post-apocalyptic gear. It was described as: “Full-bodied theatre, rich with invention… where the Bacchae aren’t standing on the sidelines while the men have all the fun.”
2. Teatro Greco di Siracusa, Sicily
Year: 2021
Director: Carlus Padrissa (La Fura dels Baus)
Author: Euripides (Translation by Guido Paduano)
Known for its flying Bacchae supported by cranes and a female Dionysus (Lucia Lavia). A critic noted: “Deus ex machina and Chaos become contemporary… where the madness equals the collapse of the laws of men.”
3. Almeida Theatre, London
Year: 2015
Director: James Macdonald
Author/Adapter: Anne Carson
Features Ben Whishaw as a delicate, terrifyingly cool Dionysus. It was praised for its visceral use of a cappella music, described as: “The real Greek, bloody-fantastical thing… finding a visceral vein between the strange exultations.”
4. Teatro Greco di Siracusa, Sicily
Year: 2012
Director: Antonio Calenda
Author: Euripides (Version by Giorgio Ieranò)
A massive production that utilized the natural sunset of Sicily to transition from the city of Thebes to the madness of Mount Cithaeron. One viewer remarked: “The superb choreography of nature adds an essential element… I had goosebumps.”
Hall famously used masks for the entire cast, returning to ancient tradition to create a “conscious dramatic ritual.” A reviewer noted: “The burning of Pentheus’s palace is evoked through the splintering of the stage to reveal a wall of flame.”
6. Romaeuropa Festival / Holland Festival (Touring)
A queer version where Dionysus is a meteorite colliding with Earth. It used a giant seismograph on stage to monitor vibrations. It was hailed as: “A visual concert… inviting the viewer on a journey through the ‘free path of the heart’.”
7. New York Euripides Summer Festival
Year: 2023
Director: Lorca Peress
Translation by Emily Wilson. Using the acclaimed translation by Emily Wilson, this production focused on the “wisdom” of the play and its relevance to a post-pandemic world, described as: “A world-wide dissipation for the arts… marked by the end of surviving tragedies.”
This production blended Greek tragedy with Balinese dance-drama (Topeng), using hand-carved masks. It was celebrated for showing that “the demand of the human spirit for Dionysiac experiences”transcends cultural boundaries.
9. Abbey Theatre, Dublin
Year: 2022
Director: Lazarus (Directed by various collective members)
A high-octane, movement-heavy version that focused on the “gender-bending” aspects of Dionysus as a disruptor of the state. It was lauded for being “a visceral, blood-soaked exploration of the thin line between ecstasy and agony.”
10. Stanislavsky Electrotheatre, Moscow
Year: 2015
Director: Theodoros Terzopoulos
Terzopoulos is a master of “Attic” physical theatre. This 21st Bacchae production was a stark, black-and-red ritual of breath and body. It was described as: “A mathematical, geometric ritual where the actors’ bodies become the architecture of the tragedy itself.”
Originally performed at the Almeida Theatre in London, this version is celebrated for its minimalist, modern poetic sensibility. Carson highlights the gender fluidity of Dionysus and frames the god’s need for worship through a lens that mirrors modern celebrity culture and reality TV.
Braschi uses the framework of The Bacchae to dramatize the political frenzy and rage of the Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin era known for its collusion, pollution, and delusion. Ivanka kills her father Pendejo and his groom Putin in a frenzy at Mar a Lago.
Published as part of the collection Greek Tragedies for Contemporary Times. This adaptation moves the setting to a modern-day context, focusing on the power of youth movements and how devotion to a charismatic figure (Bacchus) can dismantle rigid social structures.
