Euripides' Bacchae, unseen by its own author and a posthumous prize-winner in 405 BC, opened the National Theatre's Olivier under Indhu Rubasingham's incoming direction.
Euripides’ Bacchae opened Indhu Rubasingham’s first season as director of the National Theatre, in the Olivier on the South Bank from Saturday 13 September to Saturday 1 November 2025.
Euripides wrote the play in his final years, in exile at the Macedonian court of Archelaus I, and never saw it staged. It premiered after his death at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC, part of a tetralogy his son or nephew is thought to have directed. It won first prize at that year’s City Dionysia.
The god Dionysus returns to Thebes to punish the royal house that denies his divinity. King Pentheus, who has banned his worship, is driven mad and lured to the mountains. There the god’s followers tear him apart, his mother Agave among them.
Unusually for Greek tragedy, the god is a character on stage throughout. The chorus of Bacchae is folded into the action rather than commenting from its edge.
Nima Taleghani adapted the text for this staging, threading movement, music, spoken word and rhyme through the retelling. It ran for an unbroken hour and three-quarters.
Clare Perkins and Ukweli Roach led the ensemble.