BACCHUS

SUMMARY OF THE PLAY:

Princess Semele, a totally dumb bombshell from Thebes, hooks up with Zeus, gets pregnant and turns the entire Universe upside-down. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, takes the whole thing as an insult to her own femininity, turns to the bottle (of ambrosia) to ease her pain and vows revenge. The furious goddess finally “helps” her mortal rival take an “one-way trip” to Hades and thus Semele gets out of the picture for good. But there is also Bacchus -the illegitimate son of Zeus and Semele. Hera, in her attempt to get rid of the baby as well -and despite her feelings for second-class deities- swallows her pride and teams up with Eris -her obese daughter in law. Eris -the goddess of Discord, who acts like a pig and has a Trojan war to her credit – goes out of her way to please Hera but unfortunately she has to compete with the crafty Hermes who has been sent by Zeus to straighten things out. The two goddesses count on Pentheus (Bacchus’ cousin and king of Thebes) for a satisfactory conclusion of their dirty plans. Pentheus -who acts like a TV evangelist with a touch of a corrupt sheriff from the American South- tries to kill the son of Zeus. The whole story is witnessed by three spinsters – three washed up actresses- that Zeus has asked to do their bit by serving as chorus women. The three women do more than their bit and by acting like “MORTALS EX MACHINA” manage to reunite Zeus and Hera. Bacchus rewards the chorus women with the “well endowed three-legged” Ion and his two identical brothers, while pentheus learns that there is more to life than hypocrisy, false promises, wars, greed and human pride.