Bakkhai, Almeida Theatre ***

Bakkhai, according to Rupert Goold is about 'gender, about wildness, and about who, when the framework of society is stripped away, we really are.' These high concept and big ideas are addressed very well in James Macdonald's production of the Euripides tragedy. However, to me, Bakkhai is a play about pain, loss and corruption of power. These smaller and more heartfelt themes are not conveyed here. Anne Carson's adaptation sacrifices clear narrative structure for poetry and dressing. Character development is abandoned bar an exposition part at the beginning from Whishaw's Dionysis that, in a Star Wars fashion, tells us the ins and outs of the story so far. Macdonald's use of a chorus too is a shame as they feel unconnected to the three actors, almost creating two separate productions. In spite of this, the talent on that stage is perhaps the strongest this year. The quality of the voices in the Bakkhai are astonishing and create an eerie atmosphere thanks to Orlando Gough's polyphonic compositions. They carry off speaking in unison very well, maintaining both clarity and character. Kevin Harvey is also superb in a plethora of roles which are all different, not just in accent but in character, movement and tone. Whishaw and Carvel give two standout performances that, in any other production would be showered in awards. However, Ben Wishaw's beguiling yet cruel God and Carvel's pathetic Pentheus and mad turning despairing Agave are diluted by a creative team who want to concentrate on the big issues rather than concentrating on the more powerful ones. Carvel especially suffers as Agave who, whilst his singing is too similar to his Miss Trunchable to have a profound effect, his grief stirred the only shred of emotion in the piece. Whilst Oresteia left me an emotional wreck, Bakkhai left me cold in spite of some of the best and talented performances currently on stage.