Intermittent rain all day scared off enough people that we scored much sought after tickets to the Public Theater's The Bacchae directed by JoAnne Akalaitis with an original score by Phillip Glass. Recent actor in The Hurt Locker, Anthony Mackie also made an appearance as Pentheus.
After failing to get tickets using the "Virtual Line" on Friday, we biked over to the theater at 1 PM on Saturday and found the line was short. By the evening performance, most seats were taken though.
The performance was startling. Greek tragedies are dark and the more so when performed live. Laura and I both enjoyed the score and the ravishing chorus pieces. Agave was a bit short of convincing but Cadmus and Tiresias were excellent and even funny in their opening act. My favorite was the monologue given by the messenger, Pentheus' servant, graphically describing his masters murder by the hands of his mother. Riveting and more stunning than the dripping head and body parts that were subsequently brought on stage and then fondled by a now lucid Agave.
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