The Stage

In Blood: The Bacchae

Published Monday 12 January 2009 at 10:10 by Natasha Tripney

Set in Brazil during the twenties, Noah Birksted-Breen’s production is rich with the distinctive movements of capoeira, but though visually striking, it lacks coherence.

Frances Viner’s new play is based on the story of a young outlaw, Besouro. In a divided society, he uses his cunning and charm to humiliate the authorities rather than resorting to violence - this, however, is not always apparent in a production that suffered from problems with clarity. Viner’s play draws parallels with Greek tragedy and features a chorus of capoeiristas, whose percussive music and fluid movements help ground the play in terms of time and place, but these physical elements end up clashing with the story, fighting the narrative rather than enhancing it. Having said that, the capoeira, co-ordinated by Carlo Alexandre Teixeira da Silva, is striking and exciting to watch - the music, combining the beat of drums and the twang of the berimbau, is also powerful and vibrant; while among the cast, some of whom are hampered by accents, Greg Hicks’ police chief stands out by some distance. But though the production is not short on atmosphere, the results are somewhat muddled and curiously lacking in any real sense of spectacle.