Company of Wolves stages their explosive retelling of The Bacchae across the UK

Following a hugely successful Scottish tour, Glasgow’s acclaimed Company of Wolves is embarking on a 10-venue UK tour this spring with their fiery physical retelling of The Bacchae. Reworking Euripides’ ancient Greek tragedy, first performed in Athens in 405BC, The Bacchae is a powerful solo performance bringing to life the myth of Dionysos, the untamed god of theatre, wine and hedonism, through storytelling, movement and ancient song.

Written and performed by Ewan Downie (Julius Caesar, Achilles, Company of Wolves), The Bacchae sees him embody five characters from Greek mythology, multi-rolling as Dionysus, his father Zeus, his mother Semele, her sister Agave and Agave’s son Pentheus, King of Thebes. With original songs by Ewan Downie and Anna Porubcansky (UNBECOMING, UK tour; Seven Hungers, The Barn Banchory), The Bacchae challenges conventional boundaries of gender and identity, taking audiences on a transformative journey from rejection and vengeance to rebirth.

The Bacchae is the final work directed by the late choreographer and creative director Ian Spink (A Mouthful of Birds, Young Vic; Petruska, Scottish Ballet), co-founder of the renowned dance company Second Stride, the first British contemporary dance company to tour the US. Spink was a significant creative influence on both The Bacchae and Downie’s previous solo work, Achilles (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018), and his legacy remains central to the production.

This rendition of the show is also being directed by Heather Knudtsen (The Believers are but Brothers, UK tour; Illegal, Scandal Theatre) and has been developed closely with the School of Classics at the University of St Andrews and Ancient Greek specialist Dr Michael Carroll. The creative team also includes set and costume designer Alisa Kalyanova (Supposing by Zinnie Harris, Traverse Theatre; Die Fledermaus, Opera Bohemia), sound designer Anna Porubcansky (UNBECOMING, UK tour; Seven Hungers, The Barn Banchory) and lighting designer Katharine Williams (Walk with Me, Bloomsbury Festival; Maggie & Me, The Enemy, National Theatre of Scotland).