Theatre
Saw The Lightning Child at the Globe Theatre. Loose adaptation of "The Bacchae" by Euripides. Has a framing device where an astronaut is shown the story of the Bacchae by the herald of Dionysus, and moves backwards and forwards between a few other short plays on the same theme. "The Bacchae" is about the Dionysus, the chaotic and powerful god of wine, theatre, and music: whose female followers are are holding an ecstatic festival on a mountain. The king Pentheus, hostile but salaciously curious, tries to spy on them and is torn limb from limb.

This got a terrible review from Lyn Gardner, but I loved it. There's a lot of singing and dancing, with a kind of Seventies nightclub vibe: the audience loved it. Thought it was very powerful the way the cast move from sexy gyrating to blood-stained savagery.

It might also be a generational thing: if you're part of the rave generation, the idea of disappearing into the countryside for an ecstatic festival of dancing with an edge of real danger.

The other plays are a little more uneven, but the flatmates one was excellent. I didn't think they were that baffling, seem to be different takes on Nietzsche's ideas about the eternal conflict between the Dionysian chaos and Apollonian order.

Overall, a powerful and entertaining piece of theatre with some great spectacle, well worth seeing. If you've got the energy to stand, get a £5 standing seat and get close up.

Links
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