What happens if you fail to worship a god, actively deny he is a deity at all, insult his worshippers… and then that god comes to visit your city?
If he is anything like Dionysus, a sustained campaign of violent humiliating vengeance ensues, waged against the king – the bloody culmination of which is the king being physically ripped apart by his female relatives, chief among them his own mother, all under the delusion they are tackling a wild mountain lion. Such was the pleasant topic of the Classics Department’s Radio Play evening, where we tackled Euripides Bacchae, first produced two and a half thousand years ago, in 405 BC.
F7 student Sophia writes:
Form 6 and 7 students of Classical Civilisation and Greek came together for a Radio Play reading of the play Bacchae by Euripides. Alex starred as young King Pentheus of Thebes with golden crown, and Dionysus was played by none other than Dr Leveritt himself, who completed the look with a Bacchic fennel staff. Henry shone in his role as the Chorus of women, as did Tom as the blind prophet Tiresias. As in ancient times, the messenger speeches were long and detailed to compensate for a lack of special effects; Molly read these crucial, violent speeches with clarity and ease. We enjoyed recreating the word of Ancient Greek tragedy with a little help from cola and pizza, perhaps even a little chocolate! The afternoon was a helpful revision session for both year groups, especially Form 7 as we get closer and closer to the summer exams. We look forward to tackling Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and Frogs by Aristophanes in the future!
