Euripid: THE BACCAE

No other performance in the Croatian theatre in the last ten years has provoked a bigger political scandal than Frljiæ's Bakhe that was first performed during Split Summer. Finally we have a political play which has succeeded in setting off a storm of reactions by its provocative content: theatre finally hit the headlines, and we had a chance to witness to which extent the politics and its yes-men are the rulers of today's theatre in Croatia.

This version of Bakhe has no intention of giving up on the fact that it takes place in Split and lets their witnesses play the game of identification parade. This Bakhe spreads the word about the acts of violence that are happening – out of sight, and therefore reduces the text of the tragedy to the Messenger's report which, according to the convention, speaks of violence perpetrated out of the space presented on the stage.

One of the goriest ancient texts is staged as an interactive and critical frame for hate which is even transferred through institutional education. The play also functions as a cynical instruction not only on banality, but also on the eternal recurrence of evil, because while children learn in their reading class a drama text about a mother who dismembered her son, behind their backs there is a song "Æale moj" playing, which could be read on the Tuðman – Sanader level, but also as a dedication to all other fathers of the nation, and as an echo of the vows which construct political history, as they do wit a well-directed performance sometimes.