Despite going to a myriad of art-sy events in my life I have never developed or honed a level of artistic perception to fully understand what I see. I can however appreciate it and have learned to gauge everything using a simple ‘enjoyment factor’.
The Bacchae sees director, Adena Jacobs, explore lost innocence. She uses her entirely teenage female cast (apart from one young man with a haunting voice) to take us on a journey of desolation, sacrifice and sexualisation. There’s three key set pieces which all cascade into an orgy of colour and dance. Did I really understand what was going on? Not really. Was it fun? Yes!
The final scene is worth the entry price. A giant inflatable ode to Dionysus consumes the stage and the excess of the nether world that the girls live in is on full display. It felt like we were on the set of a music video and it felt good.
The Bacchae constantly keeps the audience on edge. Much of the performance sees the girls wearing a scant amount of clothing. You’re never quite sure if it is going to cross a frontier into complete sexualisation or continue treading a fine line.
The performance is held at Theatre Works. On opening night we were treated to a feast from Clay Pots St Kilda.
– Rukmal
Rukmal (Ruki) is The Plus Ones’ Managing Director. He looks after the marketing, technology, and finance areas of TPO and loves nothing more than analysing data and optimising campaigns. Okay, perhaps building a global digital media company is a touch more interesting. While he rarely writes articles these days, preferring to leave it to our incredible staff writers, he can occasionally tap his right brain.
