There are performances that entertain, and then there are performances that take hold of a room so completely that you become aware of every breath, every silence, every heartbeat around you. The Bacchae: An African Choral Ballet was one of those rare evenings.
From the moment the first notes of Neo Muyanga’s haunting score filled the theatre, the atmosphere shifted. The audience fell into an almost reverential silence, hanging onto every movement, every voice and every beat. You could feel the anticipation ripple through the room as the ancient story unfolded; not as a distant Greek tragedy, but as something immediate, urgent and unmistakably African.
This bold reimagining of Euripides’ The Bacchae transports the tale to a divided city searching for renewal, where the mysterious Dionysus arrives offering freedom, ecstasy and spiritual awakening. As women abandon convention and a chorus rises in ecstatic defiance, the young ruler Pentheus attempts to restore order, only to find himself drawn towards the very force he seeks to destroy.
The production is a remarkable collaboration between Joburg Ballet and the University of Johannesburg Choir, blending classical ballet with African movement, powerful choral music and sweeping orchestral composition. Neo Muyanga’s music provides the emotional pulse of the work, while director Jay Pather shapes every scene with striking theatrical precision. Olivier Award-winning choreographer Mthuthuzeli November delivers movement that feels both primal and impossibly refined, each sequence carrying as much emotional weight as the dialogue never spoken.
The evening builds with relentless momentum. Beauty gives way to unease, celebration slips into chaos, and certainty dissolves into something far more unsettling. Themes of power, gender, ritual and rebellion are not simply presented, they are lived on stage with an intensity that leaves the audience leaning forward, suspended between awe and discomfort.
When the curtain finally fell, there was a brief moment where nobody seemed willing to break the spell. Then the applause came. Not polite, but instinctive. The kind reserved for performances that don’t just tell a story, but leave something behind long after the lights come up. The Bacchae is not merely a ballet; it is a visceral theatrical experience that proves ancient myths still have the power to speak directly to the present.
Then, almost as suddenly as the spell had been cast, it was broken.
The same performers who had moments earlier embodied gods, rulers and rebels stepped into the foyer simply as themselves. The fierce intensity that had commanded the stage gave way to warm smiles, laughter and quiet conversations as they signed programmes, posed for photographs and thanked audience members who were still processing what they had just witnessed.
It was a striking reminder of the artistry behind the spectacle, that beneath the relentless power of the performance were people whose generosity offstage was every bit as memorable as their command of it. The ovation may have ended inside the theatre, but the evening lingered long afterwards, carried in handshakes, photographs and grateful applause.
Photography by Shukri Hassan