“Bacchae” outdoors at the Getty Villa

Akiko Aizawa as Agave and Stephen Duff Webber as Cadmus. Photo by Craig Schwartz

L-r, Roshni Shukia (Chorus), Stephen Duff Webber (Cadmus), Barney O’Hanlon (Tiresias), J. Ed Araiza (Soldier), Akiko Aizawa (Agave), Samuel Stricklen (Chorus), Leon Ingulsrud (First Messenger), and Ellen Lauren (Dionysus). Photo by Craig Schwartz

Divine retribution at the Getty Villa
“Bacchae” (a review)

Sometimes you’ll see a play and think to yourself, “They’ve done a really fine job with this, but, I dunno, I’m just not emotionally involved.” At least that’s what I was mentally grumbling when trying to soak in “Bacchae” at the Getty Villa in Malibu.
Euripides wrote this apparent crowdpleaser which premiered in 405 BC, one year after his death. Bacchus is the Roman name for Dionysus, and Dionysus is the Greek name for, well, let’s see, Will Ferrell or Jim Carrey. Since “bacchanalia” is code for an anything-goes orgy, it’s not surprising that Dionysus (as he’s referred to in this production) is the god of wine and revelry.
Although not consistently presented as such by the New York-based SITI Company under the direction of Anne Bogart, “Bacchae” is a fairly dark work, something of a mean-spirited revenge drama. But hold on a moment, Greek tragedies like to pile up the bodies, don’t they?

L-r, Leon Ingulsrud (First Messenger), Roshni Shukia (Chorus), Gian-Murray Gianino (Second Messenger), Samuel Stricklen (Chorus), and Akiko Aizawa (Agave). Photo by Craig Schwartz

Dionysus arrives in Thebes with his all-female entourage, holds a grudge against his aunts for not acknowledging that Zeus is his father, tangles with Pentheus, the king, whom he then deceives and sends to a fatal rendezvous (details below). In short, vindictive Dionysus gets back at those who don’t hold him in high esteem.
SITI Company is back for the third time in this, the thirteenth annual late summer production in the Villa’s outdoor amphitheater. Previously SITI had reconfigured and presented the “Trojan Women (after Euripides)” in 2011 and “Persians,” by Aeschylus, in 2014. Since the group’s last appearance we’ve had the opportunity and pleasure to see “Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles” (2015), which was a retelling or updating of the Medea story, by Luis Alfaro; “Haunted House Party: A Roman Comedy” (2016), based on “Mostellaria” by Titus Maccius Plautus; and “Iphigenia in Aulis” (2017), by Euripides. I mention these recent works because they were uniformly engrossing and/or funny. So I know what these September delights are capable of.
It’s no secret that most theater companies like to put their own spin on new productions of old classics, which often gives something stale or stuffy new life. SITI Company has been no exception, and Bogart’s group has again come out of the box and down the hall, so to speak, first by casting a woman, Ellen Lauren, as Dionysus, as well as replacing the all-female chorus and Theban women with a mix of both genders (and various ethnicities, so that we have a crayon box of black, white, and Asian faces).
In general, I’m not a fan of colorblind casting. You don’t find it in movies, so why should you willingly accept it live on stage? Wouldn’t we be appalled if we saw one of August Wilson’s plays with an all-white or all-Asian cast? Of course in this instance one could reply, Would you rather see Greek actors performing the play in Greek?
Well, no, but…
Lauren is an exceptionally fine actor, her physical moves and facial gestures simply superb, but just because someone is a very good actor doesn’t mean they’re right for the part. Dionysus is half-trickster, half-devilish imp, and Lauren plays up the wildness like some sort of mad clown or deranged jester. Her target, Pentheus (Eric Berryman), is not such a lovable character either, and it’s clear that his arrogance will be his undoing. However, it’s hard to buy into Berryman’s assumed persona, even after Dionysus talks him into dressing in women’s garb so that he can observe the Theban women from his treetop perch, despite his giving an engaging and touching performance.
Let’s leave the actors aside for a moment.

Eric Berryman as Pentheus and Ellen Lauren as Dionysus. Photo by Craig Schwartz

Although “Bacchae” has been very well-rehearsed, the choreography is a little too stylized and too often it feels like we’re watching an enhanced recital rather than a play with fluid movement. Perfection is one thing, but here it often spills over and seems too precious, too rarified and distant (see my very first sentence, above).
Would a more charismatic cast have made a difference? Probably. Samuel Stricklen was for me the only performer who to some degree stood out, and he was simply billed as one-half of the chorus.
As for the costumes, they were a mishmash of styles, sports jackets and long pleated skirts with sneakers for much of the play. Lauren wears leather pants and a flimsy top, both terracotta colored and neither flattering; Pentheus wears a white suit; Cadmus (Stephen Duff Webber) seems to be dressed in a Hawaiian shirt at the crucial finale. To me, all this comes across as indecision, although I do imagine that costume consultant Eleni Kyriacou had a cogent idea or two in mind.
At the end, the bacchantes or maenads espy Pentheus in the treetops and after they shake him out of the branches they tear him to shreds–shades of what befell Actaeon when he chanced to stumble upon Diana bathing in the woods.
Not surprisingly, the bacchantes are in feeding-frenzy mode when they dismember the Theban king, with one of the participants being Agave (Akiko Aizawa), who just happens to be the mother of Pentheus as well as the aunt of Dionysus. She doesn’t recognize what’s left of the corpse, and returns home with her son’s head in a clear plastic sack, convinced it’s a lion’s head. Cadmus, her father, attempts at length to reveal the sad truth.

Akiko Aizawa as Agave and Stephen Duff Webber as Cadmus. Photo by Craig Schwartz

Aizawa is a fine actress, we’ve seen her before, and she can wail in sorrow and rage with the best of them. But, taking artistic license which allows her to express her emotions more fully, she delivers her heartbreaking lines in her native Japanese. Is this a good move? Suddenly it seems that someone has switched channels and we’re watching Kurosawa’s “Throne of Blood.” Why not just enlist a Greek actress and ask her to deliver the words in Greek? The rest of the play is in English, so one may wonder why we’re suddenly off on a tangent solely because one performer is more at ease in another language.
Other viewers may applaud this tact as legitimate poetic license and applaud the company for going against the grain. The beauty of these works, year after year, is that they’re open to and invite reinterpretation. Some of us will embrace the artistic gambles, and some of us (today I’m in this category) will hold back or restrain our praise.
None of what I’ve written is to subtract from the fact that this production is topnotch and of the quality we’ve come to expect from SITI Company.
Bacchae is being staged Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. outdoors in the Getty Villa amphitheater, 17985 Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades. Closes on Sept. 29. Tickets, $40 on Thursday ($36 students and seniors, Thursday only), $42 on Friday, and $48 on Saturday. Come early, relax or amble through the galleries, and enjoy a meal paired to the event. Next year’s play is “The Heal,” written and directed by Aaron Posner, a reimagining of “Philoctetes” by Sophocles. (310) 440-7300 or visit getty.edu. ER

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