Women Making Old Theatre New Again
The Bacchae 2019, 2021
Writer: Euripides
Translator: T.A. Buckley (adapted by Maria Makenna)
Director: Maria Makenna
Composer/Musical Director: Erica Martin
Cast: Catalina Croitoru, Erica Martin, Chantelle Micallef Grimaud, Noga Flaishon, Maria Makenna
Audience Warning: Simulated drug use, adult themes
First Performed at the Bread and Roses Theatre September 2019
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Most recent performance: Camden Fringe Festival
Hen & Chickens Theatre
August 20-25 2021
Dionysus is the God of drugs, debauchery and ritual madness and will stop at nothing to prove her divine heritage to the dissenters of Thebes. Set deep in the underground club scene where debauchery rules and idolatry reigns, The Bacchae run the show. Every. Night. Can the rule of law compete with the chaos and euphoria of Dionysus?
Reviews for The Bacchae
In a darkened space, with a minimal set, the cast provide everything else, from Euripides’ words spoken with clarity and understanding, to the singing of the Chorus. This is a production that is true to the spirit of Euripides, even if performed in a time where the Greeks gods have long since vanished.
Beautifully paired down version of an ancient play -Dominica Plummer, Spy in the Stalls
Hugely enjoyable!
-David Bullen, By Jove Theatre
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Cast revelled in a poetic translation with Erica Martin particularly mellifluous as Dionysus
-Simon Bolland
Production Stills (2019 and 2021)
Ajax, 2017
Writer: Sophocles
Translator: James Kerr
Director: Maria Makenna
Composer/Musical Director: Erica Martin
Lighting Designer: Jess Bernberg
Stage Manager: Elissa Morton
Costume Designer: Maria Makenna
Audience Warnings: Adult themes, violence, blood.
5-10 December 2017
7:30pm
Mat: Sat & Sun 2pm
THE SPACE
269 Westferry Road, London, E14 3RS
Running time: 90 mins
Cast
Ajax :: Erica Martin
Odysseus :: Comfort Fabian
Athena/Eurysaces :: Laura Trosser
Tecmessa :: Noga Flaishon
Agamemnon :: Rudzani Moleya
Teucer :: Fay Jagger
Sophocles’ classic tale is given new life in this staging by Esmond Road Productions with a modern translation and an all-female cast. Ajax tells the story of a celebrated warrior, cursed with madness for disrespecting the gods. After a night of violent hallucinations, she is awoken to find her friends, lover, and child cowering from her in fear and shame.
Exhibiting symptoms that we now understand to be the very real psychological consequences of trauma, Ajax must try to push through the mist of her own delusions and choose between her life and her honour; a choice with repercussions far-reaching enough to shake the army, the king, and the gods atop Olympus. A story of honour, death, trauma, and the dehumanizing nature of politics and war, this 2500-year-old tale rings as true today as it ever has.
Reviews for Ajax
“a streamlined and well-paced production”
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"This is an innovative version of an underperformed play, with an emotional core that really hits home."
--Juliet Evans, Spy in the Stalls
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"The young cast is committed and charismatic, owning the stage and the play, particularly in the singing, which made the hairs rise up on the neck such was its beauty."--Elinor Perry-Smith, SEEN London
