In Greek mythology, Maenads [MEE-nads] were female worshippers of Dionysus, the Greek god of mystery, wine and intoxication. The word literally translates as "raving ones". They were known as wild, insane women who could not be reasoned with. The mysteries of Dionysus inspired the women to ecstatic frenzy; they indulged in copious amounts of violence, bloodletting, sex and self-intoxication and mutilation. They were usually pictured as crowned with vine leaves, clothed in fawnskins and carrying the thyrsus, and dancing with the wild abandonment of complete union with primeval nature.
The Maenads were also known as Bassarids (or Bacchae or Bacchantes) in Roman mythology, after the penchant for the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a fox-skin, a bassaris.
In Euripides' play, "The Bacchae", Theban Maenads murdered King Pentheus after he banned the worship of Bacchus because the Maenads denied Pentheus' divinity. Bacchus, Pentheus' cousin, himself lured Pentheus to the woods, where the Maenads tore him apart and his corpse was mutilated by his own mother, Agave.
A group of Maenads also killed Orpheus because they hated his music.
See also Icarius, Butes, Dryas, and Minyades for other examples of Dionysus inflicting insanity upon women as a curse.
Euripides’ use of Choruses to narrate the action in his plays was often the source of the earliest form of theatrical criticism, but here, although perhaps not absolutely essential to the structure, the device was indispensable to the impact and power of the play as a whole.
The Bacchae is a spectacular achievement for the Celebration, with starkly angular and incredibly inventive staging by Matthews and a graffiti-overrun environmental design by Kurt Boetcher that continues through the theatre’s playing space and spills into the audience.
The concept of bringing The Bacchae into our contemporary times is a worthy one, especially the adaptor’s idea that there are "strong parallels" to the gay community’s "reluctance to examine what it is to be gay outside of a sexual context," as Rochel addresses in his program notes.
The Bacchae was presented posthumously along with Iphigenia in Aulis and the lost Alcmaeon in Corinth in 406-405 BCE.
In the case of The Bacchae, the Chorus is constituted by the Bacchae, devout female worshippers of Dionysus that the god has brought with him from Asia.
Euripides' choruses are sometimes superfluous to the action, and for this he was often criticized; in the case of this play, the Chorus provides atmosphere and contributes greatly to the play's impact, but they are perhaps less than essential to the structure and plot of the play.
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