Marlene Monteiro Freitas – P.OR.K

Bacchae
Prelude to a Purge

Marlene Monteiro Freitas and her team P.OR.K (Portugal / Cape Verde) dramatize the eternal struggle between the two poles of existence: the splendorous form of Apollo and the chaotic formlessness of Dionysus. Bacchae features a team of dancers and musicians in a setting inspired by opera, mythology, Nietzsche’s philosophy on the Apollonian and the Dionysian, and Gustave Courbet’s pivotal and controversial painting L’origine du monde. The stage encompasses eclectic elements, including a music ensemble, in an atmosphere evocative of casinos or nightclubs. Freitas investigates archetypes and different facets of culture to address the multiplicity and mystery of form in a manner which harks back to the complexity of Euripides’ The Bacchae. Calmness, ambiguity, dissimulation, and distortion feature prominently in this production which both pays homage to and deconstructs the Western canon.