Bacchic

Published Monday 6 August 2007 at 11:05 by Duska Radosavljevic

We have come to expect that a piece of theatre is either script-led or performance-led and that rarely the two will be equally outstanding. Especially when it comes to physical performance, our expectations plummet in relation to almost everything else other than the physical skill and prowess of the performers. On the other hand, a textual re-reading of a classic would only tentatively consider dealing with its key themes by non-verbal means. All that changes in Tamsin Shasha and Jonathan Young’s exquisite piece with the Actors of Dionysus.

Reinterpreting Euripides’ play about worship and cynicism as a modern day parable about the power of celebrity, this one-woman show makes a really inventive and seamless integration of scripted and physical theatre. Shasha is a highly competent performer who effortlessly combines her physical and psychological resources to create crisp, delicate and layered characterisations, and she also finds a thousand uses for the end of her rope, which transforms in seconds from a grubby tea towel into a luxurious sofa. Primarily imagination led, this is indeed a rare piece of theatre.