Once again, the Free Theatre challenged Christchurch audiences with a production that took risks and jolted you out of your comfort zone
Jim Tully, Sunday Star Times
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3-5 Nov 1999, Ministry Nightclub
Written in 406 BCE, the Bakkhai was the last of the great Greek tragedies. The title refers to the women in the cult of Dionysus, the god of ecstasy, dance and theatre. In the original play, the women of the city, entranced by Dionysus, abandon their homes to dance, sing and revel in the hills. When Pentheus, the king, confronts Dionysus in an attempt to restore order and to re-impose the rule of the men, the consequences are devastating. Dionysus persuades Pentheus to dress as a woman and watch the women in their secret rites. When they discover him, they mistake him for a sacrificial animal, and his mother leads the women in dismembering him. She carries his head triumphantly for all to see only to recognise her error too late.
Who can take the place of Dionysus in our society now? Where does one find the kind of entranced dance that the god of Euripides once provoked? In Bakkhai/Diotekk the god is the DJ, the place is the nightclub, and the dance is a rave. This is where today's youth gathers to create its own culture and its own cult, led by the DJ. Just as the DJ re-mixes old vinyl records into a new techno beat, the ancient tragedians mixed their old myths into new dramas, and Bakkhai/Diotekk re-mixes ancient Greek words and rhythms with modern English and the old form of theatre with the new dance-culture. The contest between Dionysus and Pentheus is reflected in the interplay of styles: Progressive Trance and Drum & Bass. Bakkhai/Diotekk is co-sponsored by the departments of Classics and Theatre and Film Studies (University of Canterbury). 
What excited and intrigued me about the Free Theatre’s adaptation was that it was to be set in The Ministry night club. |
PublicityOld Story, New Twist
Eva Hay, The Press, 2 November 1999 Greek tragedy meets DJ dance culture Sharon McIver, The Press, 29 October 1999 
ReviewsLeave expectations at the door, they said, and it was good advice... 
Peter Falkenberg, the director, releases the full power and passion of this final masterpiece of Euripides (485-406BC).... The energy is demonic, possessed, spiritist and disturbing.... It details unrelentingly and vividly the dire consequences of leaving this part of ourselves untended. 
When Greek tragedy is fused with the rave culture of the 1990s something innovative and imaginative is going on. Once again, the Free Theatre challenged Christchurch audiences with a production that took risks and jolted you out of your comfort zone.... The production was visually compelling and the use of sound was stunning... 
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