Dramatic parables: ritual, anti-ritual, the “festival complex” compelling. But the very fact that these changes work to make the dra-
matic action diffuse and heavy-footed undercuts that intention. The most
surprising of these changes is Soyinka’s decision to insert two playlets
which have little to do with the main plot of the play at the moment in
Euripides’ text when Pentheus is transformed from the autocratic, hawk-
ish foe of the Dionysian rites to a covert voyeur after the ecstasies of the
cult and its rites who allows himself to be dressed in drag so that he can
secretly participate in the revels. In contrast to this, Soyinka’s expansion
of the chorus to include male and female slaves where Euripides’ chorus
comprised only non-Greek Asian women, though it contributes to the
unwieldiness of the dramatic action, works more powerfully as theatre
because of its infusion of some performance modes that Soyinka has
mastered in the course of three decades of experimenting with diverse
sources, styles and methods. The brief production note that Soyinka
added to the published text of the play illustrates this point succinctly:
“The Slaves and Bacchantes should be as mixed a cast as is possible,
testifying to their varied origins. Solely because of the ‘hollering’ style
suggested for the slave leader’s solo in the play, it is recommended that
this character be fully Negroid.”
It is a great challenge that Soyinka takes on in his adaptation to make
Euripides’ pointed identification of Dionysianism as a non-Greek and
mostly female cult encompass racial oppression and class exploitation.
Hence his concern in the “Production Note” quoted above to make
the category “Negroid” not a matter of racial essences but a mark of
an expressive style born out of the dialectic of domination and strug-
gle. In the play, the “hollering” of the mostly male slaves blends well
and effectively with the women’s keening, ululating cries of anguish and
faith. The suggestion is that the terrifying powers of the god Dionysus –
which derive from, and express elemental forces of nature – can merge
with the cause of all oppressed people – women, slaves, workers. The
terrible destruction of the ruler Pentheus and the undeserved psychic
ravaging of his mother, Agave, constitute a sacrificial rite which might
usher in restitution for the oppressed and renewal of the earth for all
of its peoples. Among Soyinka’s most ambitious plays, this drama is the
most insistent on shifting the emphasis, in what we have identified as
the paradox of ritual, away from the “negative” to the “positive” pole.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the dramas that we have explored in
this chapter is the conflation of pessimism or even nihilism with extraor-
dinary inventiveness and robustness of form, technique and language in