As the Panto season lets out a last gasp and makes a scaldy grab for your spondulicks those who prefer their theatre minus the arse end of a TV3 presenter’s career will be delighted by the arrival of this season’s first must-see. The Bacchae is one of the most shocking of the Greek tragedies. Dionysus, the god of wine, prophecy, religious ecstasy, and fertility, returns to his birthplace in Thebes in order to clear his mother’s name and to punish the insolent city-state for refusing to allow people to worship him. Disguised as the stranger and accompanied by a band of bacchants, he sets about exacting his revenge on the royal family for their blasphemy, leading to a shocking, drag-clad showdown with his cousin Pentheus. Director Andy Hinds, explains why you should make a date with this very unusual drama.
This is your first non-Shakespearean project for Classic Stage Ireland. Why now and why The Bacchae?
Part of the decision was because over the last few years, with Shakespeare, we had begun to build a reputation and a following. So we hope to offer Greek tragedies to that same audience and that they will come and enjoy it because they’ll trust we’ll do something interesting with it.
How do you go about picking the productions?
We deliberately choose non-curriculum plays because it would be going over the same ground that’s often been trod on. We want to explore the lesser-known repertoire, and we want to develop a reputation for an adult audience.
It’s quite apt timing. A play about blasphemy hitting the stage just as the blasphemy law is reintroduced?
We never go for contemporary relevance. The classics are always relevant. The reasons they have survived are because they speak about the greater issues. By putting a contemporary gloss on top of it you can bury those issues. By forcing the thought into people’s heads they think about the parallel, rather than experiencing the deeper aspects of the play. The story is about a confrontation between two men. One man is terrified of another but at the same time he fascinates him. A man who has buried his femininity completely is terrified by the other’s femininity and tries to destroy him. Yet the femininity that he so wants to repress cries for expression so loudly it overwhelms him. When the god eventually brings about his destruction it’s a psychological metaphor for his self-destruction and all those other issues you could raise that relate to modern times are secondary.
In 1990 you founded the Open House Theatre Project, a one-off two-year scheme that offered training and experience to young Irish theatre directors. Do you find it worrying that there are no such schemes in existence today?
My first job in theatre was as a trainee director with Joe Dowling, because he set up a scheme whereby the Irish Theatre Company would always have a trainee director working with them, and so I always take on an assistant director – even if they are just sitting around and looking, they are learning. It gives you confidence and you get to learn the language. I don’t think it’s the responsibility of other directors but I do think that it would help if they did the same and there are schemes, like the Rough Magic Seeds program, out there.
Could you explain your casting process to me?
We spend a long time casting. We audition people all the time. We look for recommendations, put out feelers for a specific type of actor. Sometimes we feel like we’re not going to get there. We didn’t cast the two shepards or Tiresias till almost the end of the first week of rehearsals. I just kept holding out that we would find someone. No one gets paid so it’s a huge commitment, yet on New Years Day, with no public transport, all 17 cast members managed to get into rehearsals. That’s the type of commitment I work with.
Do you as a director have a very clear idea as to what you want to present or are you more collaborative, letting each actor contribute to your final vision?
It’s a bit of both. It was actually only during the technical rehearsals of The Bacchae that I realized how different it actually is from when we first started. When you see it with lights, sounds and costumes. As other parties come on board you start to adjust your ideas and develop your ideas because they are putting energy in and it evolves from how you first saw it.
The Bacchae runs until the 23rd of January at the Project Arts Centre’s Cube. Tickets are €20/16
Photos: Marius Tatu
Words: Caomhan Keane
