Theatre
The Bacchae
MITP

Revenge fuels the worst of human acts, but when revenge is of a divine nature, the balance of things is sent entirely off kilter. Originally conceived as a play about a power struggle within a family rent asunder by pride which tempts fate and instigates dies irae with tragic consequences, Euripides’ The Bacchae was also meant to focus on the religious experience which the audience was meant to get from the performance.

MADC’s production of this play last weekend, in a contemporary version by David Grieg, managed to put across the struggle between the opposing forces of politics and religion – both equally capable of being corrupted by pride – and of the often hidden desires which reveal themselves to be a darker side to our socially accepted standards of morality.

It was a performance which relied on the visual as much as it did on the interpretative aspects of theatre and as an artistic concept worked extremely well. With a three-part set designed by Romualdo Moretti, the stage was divided into three performance zones – a higher-level stage at the far end of the area, connected by a sloping catwalk to a low square stage with a large grille floor at the front. Director Toni Attard assisted by Lizzie Eldridge, had a clear artistic vision for the piece and the cohesion between the excellent use of stage space, the stylised and effective choice of costumes designed by Giuseppe Agulli and Martino Nociforo, Chris Gatt’s highly effective lighting design and Sandra Mifsud’s tight choreography, turned the performance into a visual feast.

The combination of these elements was slick and well-composed, appearing natural without the over-stylised feel of forced movement and artificial blocking. One small directorial choice in terms of positioning which could have done with better placement was Pia Zammit’s delivery of her speeches as Agave, which were portrayed with great sensitivity and passion from the lower catwalk. Her grief at having killed her own son Pentheus in a fit of Bacchanalian ecstasy was genuine and controlled. She was at times unfortunately masked, losing some of the effect her lines would otherwise have had if she had delivered them from a higher level or a more universally visible one.

Original music by Alex Vella Gregory added to the sensory experience, making the performance work on the multiple levels of sense-experience and reaffirming the underlying sensuality and sexual tension of the piece.

The eponymous Bacchae themselves, played by Maria Pia Meli, Marta Vella, Laura Best, Nicola Abela Garrett, Veronica Stivala and Coryse Borg gave an excellent performance in terms of timing, synchronised movement and choral unity. Each endowed with a strong and harmonious singing voice, they made the most of the choral pieces and portrayed the moral abandonment and quasi-orgiastic loss of control as a hedonistic mob controlled by mass hysteria in Dionysian revelry in a highly effective and tasteful manner. Their performance was effortless and uncluttered by anything other than their stunning red costumes and the endlessly varying light-play that lasted throughout the rather long, uninterrupted two-hour performance. This could have posed a serious problem had the entire piece not been so engaging and dynamic without compromising the sombre and poignant silences which were required at particular moments before a pending crisis or climax.

Playing secondary parts as Man, Nicola Abela Garrett gave a commendable performance, while Coryse Borg’s Second Messenger was adequately paced but could have done with a bit more fire. It was, however, Veronica Stivala’s First Messenger whose delivery I enjoyed the most due to its poise and well-struck balance between urgency and finality.

A newcomer to MADC was TV actor Kurt Castillo, whose Dionysus – the orchestrator of the entire piece, was perhaps slightly too subdued in the initial scene but worked his way up to a strong and convincing performance as the play unfolded. His ire was genuine and his seething, heaving desire for recognition as a deity by his mortal half of the family and subsequent revenge for its denial as well as the drive to avenge his mother’s reputation, were clearly delineated motives which he exposed and used to fuel his wrath upon Thebes and his cousin Pentheus, played by Philip Leone Ganado.

Strutting in frighteningly high heels and kissed by golden mottled make-up the androgyny of the lustful Dionysus merged with his cloven animalistic streak and Mr Castillo’s fluid movements made for a laudable first-time appearance in a classical dramatic theatre piece. Mr Leone Ganado’s as Pentheus was, as usual, tightly characterised and well-executed until the final scene when his underlying sinful interest in the rites of the Bacchae belied a rather trivialised change in his emotional journey towards the temptations of his repressed religious and sexual psyche.

It seemed rather abrupt a transition in so short a time and could have done with a slightly lengthier process of change starting earlier on in the play.

While Manuel Cauchi’s Kadmos, Agave’s father and Pentheus’ and Dionysus’ mortal grandfather and Paul Portelli’s Teiresias, the blind soothsayer, beloved by many authors over the years from Shakespeare to Eliot, had smaller roles to play, their performance was spot on: both delivered their lines with practised ease, giving them depth and credibility. It was a powerful performance all round and deserves to be credited as such – with a very definite idea of where the script was taking them, all involved, from directors to the well-cast ensemble, made a clear statement that Greek tragedy, when done well, is truly timeless and a pleasure to watch.