Are You Running with Me Zeus?
A young impresario is putting on a play called Dionysus in 69. It's full of blood and naked skin, so you'll like it.
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"It was a logical second step in a progression I was working on," says Jan. "I had done Liquid Theatre in London—I wanted to move on into this kind of theatre. It is a chance to do work where there is involvement between actor and audience, to reach out to people." "I would not have come to do any show," says Sue. I saw the original Dionysus and was very impressed. I had no reservations at all about coming. It's the kind of theater I want to do; I don't know how to put on an accent and do funny things."
"First of all Bruce was paying," Matt says, "It's just about impossible to do this kind of work in New York and get paid for it. I had a good part, winter was coming and I was ready to get out." Also, Matt says, and all the actors agree, "We were drawn together. Call it karma, call it whatever, it was, like, destined."
The other actors came from Texas. John was in Huntsville, going to school and living "in the woods" when Bruce called. "You know, when somebody asked one of the Hell's Angels how they initiate a new member, he said 'We don't initiate him, we recognize him.' The same thing was true here. When I talked to Bruce and auditioned for him, I knew I had finally found a place. And when other actors came to audition I could tell when they would be company members and when not. We recognized one another." Jean lives with Bruce and was involved in the theatre from its inception; nevertheless, she did have to audition. "You can't imagine how hard it was for me. I wanted to audition. I didn't want to be cast just because I knew Bruce. But, still, it was really hard."
By January the company reached its present number, eight, with the addition of two people living in Houston, Lawrence and Gordon.
For Lawrence and Gordon, Houston Laboratory Theatre came along just when they needed it. Lawrence grew up in Houston, had spent some time at the University of Houston studying theater and mime, and had acted in several theaters around town. "But there was no place for me to act in anything worthwhile, and I still had to do other things during the day. When I read about the auditions, I had just finished being a surveyor and was looking into becoming a taxi driver."
Gordon, oldest member of the company, is small and quiet, something of a loner. The other members talk of "bringing Gordon out" and "Gordon's come a long way" in becoming a real group person. He was managing a restaurant/bar when he heard of Houston Laboratory Theater and went down to audition. "I'll stay as long as it works." Gordon says little during the interminable discussions that sometimes take place during rehearsals; when he does, everyone shushes to listen, it's that rare.
The script for Dionysus in 69 is as unconventional as the actors and the theater itself. It is loosely based on Euripides' The Bacchae, his last play written in 408 B.C. From Euripides' 1,300 lines the original cast chose about 600. These lines can be said in any order and with any additions that the actors want. The script, then, constantly changes. The play is about the introduction to Thebes of the cult and rites of Dionysus. Half-god, half-man, Dionysus comes to Thebes garlanded with promises and joy and ecstasy for those who recognize and worship him. What happens within that rough framework depends upon what happens each night between the actors and the audience.
John plays Dionysus. He strides around the room, his long legs reaching out like stilts and announces to the spectators, "I am a god."
Dionysus is soft, magical, blonde and polymorphous. The women of Thebes are entranced by his beauty and by his promises and "driven from shuttle and loom, possessed by Dionysus," run to the slopes of Mount Cithaeron to be initiated into his rites and mysteries.
In direct contrast to the wily god, the king of Thebes, Pentheus, a macho warrior who believes that his armies and physical prowess make him the stronger of the two, confronts Dionysus with his disbelief and disobedience. Matt plays Pentheus. He paces angrily around the floor storming and exploding, pure energy, as ferociously attractive and commanding as a raging fire.
The women roam the countryside which flows with the honey and wine Dionysus has brought forth. They attack the men who spy on their revels; suckle wolf cubs then rip open the animal's throat and drink its blood; they tear apart the bodies of cattle and hang the bloody flesh from trees. They have fun.
Pentheus calls out his weapons; armies, chains, prisons, none of which contain Dionysus. John/Dionysus, challenges Matt/Pentheus to get himself a woman to satisfy him without the god's help. Matt goes into the audience asking women to go with him, at times forcing someone into an embrace, a kiss, commanding them to come with him, then asking them to. John, meanwhile, sits entwined with Jan who caresses him. Dionysus gets anything he wants. Matt/Pentheus is defeated. In order for him to become one of the chosen, who experience Dionysan joy and ecstasy as he wishes, John demands that Matt orally massage his genitals, and give the god satisfaction. Matt, beaten, agrees and the two leave the room; John grinning and winking, Matt with his head bowed.
Dionysus then allows Pentheus to watch the revels of the women from a treetop. In The Bacchae, the king's humiliation is achieved by having him go to the mountainside dressed in women's clothes. When the Bacchantes spy Pentheus watching their private ceremonies, led by Agave, Pentheus's mother, they attack. Seeing him as Dionysus wills them to see, as a lion cub, they shake him from his perch and despite Pentheus's cries for mercy from his mother, Agave "was mad, stark mad, possessed by Bacchus. Ignoring his cries of pity, she seized his left arm at the wrist; then, planting her foot upon his chest, she pulled, wrenching away the arm at the shoulder—but not by her own strength, for the god had put inhuman power in her hands."
John holds a bowl filled with red liquid. The others come to him and smear their hands with the red stuff. They attack Pentheus. They are all streaked with bloodstuff. Screaming "I don't want to die!" Matt is pulled through the same tunnel Dionysus went through, being born, except that he goes through backwards. The birth ritual turned to death ritual.
Magda, playing Agave, prances around the room like a circus pony, pounding her chest, throwing back her head, raising her arms. Her breasts bobble. She stands with feet apart like an Amazon. "I did it!" she repeats over and over. "Share my glory!" There are red streaks all over her body, her hands are covered in red, the blood of the son she has killed while blinded by ecstasy. It is a fine moment.
The bodies of her fellow revelers lie in a flesh pile beside her son. Agave dances and shouts. The scene is pure theater: the irony of Madga/Agave's happiness is set against the truth perceived by the audience, that she has torn her own son's head from his body.
To perform in Dionysus in 69 without a conventional script, in an unconventional setting that changes from night to night requires a new breed of actor. The actors themselves speak of their bodies as instruments, as tools. Everyday, the actors meet at 9:30 for a series of workshops. There are workshops to encourage group psychophysical communication, workshops in acting, and workshops to allow the actors to be mentally and physically free enough to act in the nude in front of an audience.
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