The Bacchae (film)

The Bacchae is an independent film adaptation of Euripides classic play, produced by Lorenda Starfelt and John Morrissey, and directed by Brad Mays.

Having established his divinity in eastern lands, Dionysus the god of wine returns to Thebes, land of his birth as well as his mortal mother Semeles horrible and shameful death. Angered over his homelands refusal to acknowledge his divine nature, the son of Zeus intends to establish the worship which he insists is now his due. Having put a spell on all the local women, a great celebration of dance and wine takes place in the nearby Glens of Cithaeron, attended even by the former king Cadmus and blind prophet Teiresias. When word of this outlandishness reaches Pentheus, the young and rational King of Thebes, he orders the immediate arrest of the blonde stranger responsible for the mayhem. Unaware that his strange prisoner is a god, Pentheus refuses to even consider the possibility that Bacchic worship has a place in the modern world. Unable to endure such an affront, the god Dionysus casts a spell over the young king and leads him into the mountains, where he is ultimately torn limb from limb by the ecstatic worshippers, whose number now includes Pentheus own mother, Agave.Director Brad Mays 1997 stage production of The Bacchae had been a surprise hit in Los Angeles, drawing large audiences and earning excellent reviews. It was ultimately nominated for three LA Weekly Theatre Awards, for Production Design, Original Musical Score, and Direction. Considered particularly noteworthy was the productions use of ample though nonexploitive fullfrontal nudity, most particularly in scenes portraying ritualized pagan worship and, ultimately, the violent ritual killing of the character Pentheus, king of Thebes. A major contributing factor in the productions effectiveness was the movement scoring by choreographer Kim Weild, a practitioner of the Suzuki method of dancemovement. In the months which followed the productions closing, its creators began to ponder the feasibility of an independently produced film version. Several of the stage productions cast were invite

Source: Wikipedia