EUOI

Greek drama deals with terrifying stories that have stuck to Western consciousness like leeches.(Rush Rhem)

As part of my final year’s exam at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, I will make a music theatre play based on the ‘Bakchai’ by Euripides. However, it won’t be just a reenactment of the original. I made my own interpretation which is based on todays burning topic about women that traveled to Syria to serve ISIS. Bakchai itself already deals the topic of an extremist religion/cult that wants to impose itself to other cultures. Specially for this occasion, my lifetime friend Laurens van der Wiel made the main image for this production. It is an interpretation of Agave’s mask, the protagonist of EUOI.

Why the title ‘EUOI’?
Euoi is the cry the followers of Dionysos shout when they are going into ecstacy. Actually it means something good since the Greek word ‘eu’ (good) is in it. In my interpretation it is linked to the cry that terrorists shout before they commit an attack. Both short and powerful, it summarizes everything I want to express: something that first seems to be good but actually has a totally different outcome.

Why Greek drama?
As the introduction states: Greek drama deals with fundamental human questions and stories. Therefore the subjects of these dramas are still applicable to modern society and human behaviour.