Anne Carson

Pentheus, ruler of Thebes, wants a state according to his ideas: order should rule and reason. He doesn't like the anarchic hype surrounding Dionysus, who comes from who knows where and claims to be Zeus' son, and his wild, ritual worship. Debauchery, sex, alcohol endanger public morals. But especially the women running away from home. Bakkhic wannabe rituals up in the mountains. He hates women who go completely nuts over someone they call Dionysus. This madness, in which even his mother Agave takes part, must be put to an end, they belong in prison, the unleashed admirers of Dionysus.

But Pentheus underestimates the Bakkhai - in general, he underestimates the human longing for an existence beyond the norm, for feelings and for liberation from constraints. And perhaps he also underestimates his own longing for a different existence. One that Dionysus promises.
A fight for the favor of the people breaks out - Pentheus' cool mind against the anarchic pleasure principle of Dionysus and its temptations, sobriety against intoxication, ecstasy against discipline.

With bakkhai, the recognized connoisseur of ancient tragedies Anne Carson has created a 'new version' of Euripides' darkest tragedy, making virtuoso use of the myths of the Dionysian cult. Carson looks deep into the abysses of sexual oppression and family violence, exploring gender constraints as well as the horrors of despotic rule and telling a very contemporary tale of a world breaking apart when its contradictions become radicalized.