Bahantkinje 5

STERIJINO POZORJE FESTIVAL 2010 - Novi Sad, Serbia -
National Theatre, Belgrade, Serbia -
BAHANTKINJE / THE BACCHANTES (BACCHAE)
text by Euripides
directed by Staffan Valdemar Holm

There are no guidelines and no signposts in Euripides, he just recognises two basic powers in life, Dionysian and Apollonian; the reign of reason and the reign of appetite. And man is condemned to try to balance them all his life, using the power of one in the battle against the other, without a permission to let one prevail. For consequences are fatal. The entire second part is a horrible sobering after a crime; after a blessed sleep the nightmare of reality came. There are no sentiments in Euripides, only the cold drawing of lines between causes and effects. So, who wants to see will see; who wants to hear will hear.