The Bacchae

A new god has come to Thebes - Dionysus, god of wine and ecstasy - and the women are streaming out of the city to worship him on the mountain, drinking and dancing in wild Bacchic frenzy. The king, Pentheus, is furious, denouncing this so-called 'god' as a charlatan, an insurgent - but no mortal can deny a god and no man can ever stand against Dionysus. How the god exacts his terrible revenge, drawing Pentheus to his own destruction, is as devastating now as it was in the fifth century BC. This stunning translation, by the award-winning poet Robin Robertson, reinvigorates Euripides' masterpiece for contemporary readers, bringing the ancient verse to fervid, brutal life.