From Maenads to Girls: Renaming and Adapting The Bacchae

It’s October break. It’s a Friday. What better way to exercise my freedom from the restrictions of academic life than to see an adaptation of a play about madness; the destruction of social order; and the blurring of lines between human and animal, female and male, strength and weakness?

Girls is a modern adaptation of Euripides’s The Bacchae, in which Dionysus (the Greek god of wine and madness, born of the union between mortal Semele and divine Zeus) takes revenge on the family of Cadmus for not recognizing him as a god by turning the women mad and bringing Pentheus, Cadmus’ grandson, to his death at the hands of his own mother. In Girls, Dionysus is rebranded as Deon, a not-DJ, not-influencer generally referred to as “the curator” who is hellbent on turning his small hometown upside down. Deon’s role is essentially exactly the same as his role in the original: a force of nature and madness who upends the social order. But the focus really isn’t on Deon so much as on the eponymous Girls, women from the town who are game for a good time.

Unlike the original play, the entirety of Girls focuses on one central location: a wild party Deon sets up in the woods. The eponymous Girls are not called maenads, a term referencing worship and devotion to Dionysus; instead of acting as a single chorus constantly praising the god, they are characters in their own right with their own personalities and motivations for joining the party, which they name “the Clurb.” From seat O-5, it looks incredibly fun. From my seat in the audience, I want to get up and join them, sympathizing strongly with the Girls’ general motivation to escape everyday frustration and stress.

I emailed James Bundy, the artistic director, a set of questions about the adaptation, but he told me that it would be more interesting if I came up with my own answers. I decided that doing so is only appropriate for a play that questions traditional authority. So, without further ado:

1. What informed the choice to rename Pentheus as Theo, aside from the similarity between “theus” and “theo”? Deon and Theo have a brief discussion on the meanings of their names (God v.s. Gift of God) — where did that name-versus-name discussion come from?

Theo is a Christian — the fundamentalist homophobic kind. By contrast, Pentheus, on whom Theo was based, seems, if not nonreligious, not devout either. Both versions refuse to accept Deon/Dionysus as divine and express violent intolerance of Dionysus’s cult.

Befitting Theo’s traditionalist outlook, the name “Theo” is Greek for “Gift of God.” Theo thus retains a strong national connection with his predecessor. By contrast, the etymology of “Deon” lies in both “God” and “Dionysus.” Obviously, there’s a connection to the original Greek name, but as Dionysus was also a god of dualities, it’s appropriate that Deon’s name does not only have one definition.

As for their confrontation, it certainly serves to highlight Deon’s reversal of the initial power dynamics between him and Theo: “My name means ‘God.’” “Oh? Well, my name means ‘Gift of God’!” “So, you’re my gift.” (Cue Theo’s confusion.) It also emphasizes how much more powerful Deon is, whether or not Theo realizes it.

2. On that note, what was the thinking behind the name adaptations as a whole? Agave to Gaga, Cadmus to Dada, and so on? Simplicity? Universality?

Since the setting has been radically relocated from Greece to Americana, it makes sense that the names change as well. “Deon” and “Theo” are relatively common names, while “Gaga” — colloquially meaning “crazy” — seems to further amplify the production’s insanity theme. “Dada” is a pretty easy way to establish that modernized Cadmus is Gaga’s father, which is his main role in Girls anyway.

3. What was the point of the purported hyena ancestry? Just to set up the Girls as hunters? Or to comment on narratives surrounding gender?

One of the things this adaptation added was the story of how Gaga and her sisters have a hyena somewhere in their family tree. This story is made up by Dada to control his daughters (“animals get put in cages, and hunted”). Although it’s not true, the story really does fit in well with Girls’ (and The Bacchae’s) deliberate blurring of the boundary between “man” and “beast.” Theo is mistaken for a lion, Deon sprouts a bull’s horns — the concept of Gaga as having the blood of a hunting animal fits in just fine. And it becomes very relevant after the climax where Gaga kills her son with a submachine gun, just as with Deon and Theo’s animal selves’ reveals.

4. Semele’s ghost had a direct link back to the original play, but the escaped circus animals and ghost clowns definitely seem like very new additions. I know the point of an adaptation isn’t to hew exactly to the original script, and they fit very well into the theme of madness, but what inspired you to add them?

You know what? They’re cool.

5. Why is Gaga the principal Girl, instead of Semele, Deon’s mom, who had significantly more “screentime” in the original?

Since Girls does put women front-and-center, the principal Girl should have agency and the ability to speak for herself. Semele, as a dead character, cannot have either. The title of the play is Girls, not Mom, after all. Agave, as Gaga, naturally gets to take center stage. Furthermore, she’s the one who completes Dionysus’s revenge against the family that slighted him by killing her own son — she’s the one who brings about the climax.

Overall, I really enjoyed this adaptation. However, I do think Girls would have potential as a heavily Bacchae-inspired story, rather than a straight adaptation. Sometimes adherence to the original script felt forced, especially the ending, which required a somewhat contrived setup so that Gaga could pick up the submachine gun to kill her son. The departures from the Bacchae were often just as interesting, if not more so. A story about a small town going insane, erupting in music and violence, is already compelling on its own. Maddeningly so.