Should the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka stumble on the National Troupe of Nigeria’s interpretation of his Bacchae of Euripides which opens Friday at the National Theatre in Lagos, the playwright may well realize the purpose for which he wrote the play 35 years ago.

Widely believed to be one of Soyinka’s least performed plays, Bacchae of Euripides was inspired by Euripides’ The Bacchae, essentially for the African stage.

But following the 1973 production of the play courtesy the National Theatre of England, Kongi, it was learnt, was disillusioned by the English interpretation. Although the play derived from a Greek myth, he had anticipated a projection of the Yoruba cultural content of the drama.

As an avowed cultural promoter, Soyinka had consistently drawn parallels between myths, cultures and traditions, with Ogun the Yoruba God of iron, creativity, the road, wine and war, as his totemic god. However, failure to strike this fascinating similarities between the Phrygian god Dionysos, and Ogun, in the presentation of the drama will remain a missing link.

Perhaps, the foregoing explained why the playwright was subtly indisposed when the idea of staging Bacchae of Euripedes, was put before him last year. According to the Director General, National Theatre/ National Troupe of Nigeria, Professor Ahmed Yerima who directed the drama, Soyinka preferred The Beautification of an Area Boy. Obviously one of Soyinka’s most recent plays, the play may have found favour with him given its satirical nature, and its relevance to the present political dispensation.

With a directorial style that entails adding indigenous flavour to foreign myths, Yerima brought the message in Bacchae of Euripedes nearer home. “ Even as a Soyinka’s student I saw the play as one of his most difficult plays to realize on stage and since that time I had looked forward to the day I would break that jinx, Yerima disclosed recently at the National Theatre, he added.

“ Having successfully directed The Strong Breed and Death and the King’s Horseman, also by Soyinka, (interestingly both plays borrowed certain ideas from Bacchae), I believe that I have successfully completed the cycle of Soyinka’s great tragedies.”

With costumes, props, chants, songs, dance and role interpretation, the drama which flags off the troupe 2008 season, strikes at that twin-hood between Dionysos (the Greek God of fertility) whose worship is characterised by pain, mysticism, obscenities, debauchery and drunkenness, and Ogun.

These influences are found in their appearances, mode and objects of worship. For instance, the bacchantes, devotees of Dionysos were costumed in adire, Yoruba traditional fabric and the thyrsus, the mystic staff borne by Dionysos is similar to Opa Ogun held by the male devotees of the Yoruba deity, likewise is the ivy and the palm fronds.

Even at the point when Pletheus’ self-delusion would not avail him an insight into his damned future, Soyinka still experimented with tripodal correlation between Christ, Dionysos and Ogun when he (Soyinka) drew reference from Christ’s first miracle of turning water into wine in Cana, to strike at these connections.

Beyond these successful established correlations is a subtle thematic pre-occupation. The issue of power and its misuse has been a recurrent decimal in many African societies, with Nigeria’s fledgling democracy not an exemption.

The plot presents how the protagonist, Pletheus (David Uba) whose grandfather and grandmother, Kadmos (Makinde Adeniran) and Agave (Osita Duru)-worshippers of Dionysos (Albert Akaeze), (an offspring of Zeus), got lured into the mystic world of Dionysos and suffered a tragic death in the hand of his own mother, Agave. Agave, driven into spiritual frenzy killed his child, thinking he had killed a lion.

The Soyinka drama is a clear case of rebellion and modernity, undermined by the world of mysticism. The contest for supremacy between Pletheus, King of Thebes, and Dionysos, is a clash between old and the new order which Soyinka has consistently addressed in many of his works.

While the playwright brings modernity into submission before tradition, he also lampooned Kadmos for his failure to nurture Pletheus properly for the throne. According to the director, there is a Kadmos in most of our so-called political godfathers, or kingmakers who impose unfit candidates and at the end of the day, fail the people.

Also inferred in the drama is the problem of class struggle as the slaves or today’s proletariat have no control over their fate except as determined by certain supernatural forces.The issue of a communal scapegoat, Turesias (Oladele Akinseye), an idea which Soyinka recreates in the character, Emma, in The Strong Breed.

Following its run at the National Theatre from April 4-6, the play which parades mostly guests and a cast numbering about 40, is also billed for the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, on April 8. While some of the actors need to be worked on, the lead characters gave a good account of themselves in interpreting their roles. Akaeze who played Dionysus deserves commendation for his delivery, while old hands like Florence, Ist Bacchante and Agave, played by Osita Duru are also outstanding.