The Bacchae

Euripides

Even after thousands of years, Euripides’ The Bacchae continues to challenge societies’ questions of religion and extremism. In order to better communicate with a contemporary audience, we chose to create a visual world that was reminiscent of Ancient Greece but had a modern sensibility.

At the very center of the play are the opposing forces of Thebes and the Bacchants, represented by Pentheus and Dionysus. The battle between these two worlds and the stubbornness of their young leaders is what ultimately leads to the demise of Thebes at the hands of the divine, vengeful Dionysus. Thus, it was important that the two worlds were visually represented very differently. Thebes, due to its insistence on order and control, was represented by structured, tailored garments and a cool colour palette to emphasize the rigid, almost solemn nature of the city. It’s monarch, the teenaged Pentheus, requires security and confidence to rule his kingdom. I felt that his clothing needed to be a means for him to command attention and respect, as his discourse and reasoning may work against him in doing so. As a result, I chose to costume him in the most rigid and militant garments made of finely woven fabrics.

The world of the Bacchants, however, favored organic, natural lines and textures. Their garments were constructed of more coarsely woven-fabrics, vines and of leather and fur from animals they had torn apart. The color palette was much warmer, as to emphasize the frenzied, visceral energy of their ritual and to put them in opposition with the cool colours of Thebes. It was important to me that each Bacchant garment or adornment have a specific story, explaining what it was made from, how it was made and what its intended purpose was in order to heighten and emphasize each bacchant’s personality and individuality.

Dionysus provides an interesting challenge in that, although he is of the Bacchants’ world and is disguised as a mortal, the audience must recognize that he is a god. Thus, I chose to use the same organic materials and stitching techniques that I used with the Bacchants, but to play with rich color and a more ostentatious silhouette to give him divine presence. His coat was made entirely out of wine-colored leather and had a fluidity that emphasized his androgynous qualities. In addition, I chose to stain part of his face red and give him aqua contacts in order to give him a supernatural, ethereal quality.

The two worlds merge in the character of Agavé, Pentheus’ mother, who left Thebes to praise Dionysus in the mountains. We wanted to maintain her regal air as she entered the stage in a state of madness. As she enters from the mountains she swoops in on the stage with her train, now torn and muddied, dragging behind her. One side of her dress was torn off and covered in an animal skin. The memory of her stiff, structured collar of Thebes was still standing against her exposed neck.