Tragic tale of revenge given SW twist

A story of revenge, beauty and tragedy will enchant Bunbury audiences this weekend as a group of South West creatives bring to life the 2500-year-old story of the Bakkhai.

The tale follows the god of wine and revelry Dionysos, who has a cult following of wild men and women who flock to him wherever he goes.

In his hometown of Thebes, worship of Dionysos is outlawed, so he returns to confront the town’s ruler, Pentheos, where a battle ensues.

Edith Cowan University South West senior lecturer and production director Vahri McKenzie said the story had been re-set for the South West.

“One of the conventions of Greek theatre is that it is a very talky theatre – there is a lot of people telling stories, which means that for a contemporary theatre maker, there is plenty of capacity to be creative and invent how we want it to look because theatre is a visual medium,” she said.

“With all of the artists I have worked with, we have had lots of opportunities to come up with all new visual concepts for what we want the story to look like.

“The story is premiering at the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre which is a regional venue, so it’s a story for the South West about the South West by people of the South West.”

McKenzie previously brought the comedy Lysistrata to the stage and is enjoying the venture into a new genre.

“It’s a tragedy so we are tackling something really quite new,” she said.

“My aim here is to make something very beautiful, because if you are trying to get an audience for a tragedy, I think you have to offer them something visually rewarding.”

Lead actress Nina Smith has a particularly challenging role playing Pentheos, who is traditionally a male character.

“I have been learning a lot about body language, trying to observe the men around me and then also observe my own body language,” Smith said.

“As a dancer, Vahri has picked up I do a lot of things with my hands that are not very masculine and I have got to unlearn certain things and it’s really a lot about body language.”

Bakkhai will open at BREC tonight night, with two more shows on Saturday followed by a cast meet and greet.

Tickets are available at the Box Office.

As a senior lecturer, the lessons McKenzie learns from the project will be disseminated and shared as research to the global community.