The Indiana University Department of Theatre and Drama is presenting the collegiate premier of the rock musical The Rockae based on The Bacchae by Euripides. WFIU's George Walker talked with the co creators and one of the actors from the cast.
Playwright Cara Reichel said that "I've been fascinated by The Bacchae since I read it in college. It's such a passionate story of the contest between these two inflated egos, Dionysus a god on the rise and Pentheus the king of Thebes. Actually, they're cousins so that makes it even more intense."
Fellow adapter, composer and lyricist Peter Mills described the choice of music. "I was looking for an eighties feel with bands like AC/DC and Metallica, sounds with a real edge. That particular sound seemed to really fit the all out battle that Euripides staged between the forces of staid civilization and wild nature in The Bacchae.
Veteran actor Gordon Stanley plays old Cadmus. "I'm actually the grandfather of both the god and the king. It's quite a family. Actors are always looking for roles that offer the opportunity of change in a character. If you've got a playwright who's on his game that's what you get. I start out the show in a three button suit and end up in a pair of boxer shorts with vine leaves in my hair. It's a lot of fun."
Performances run August 27, 28, 29, 2009 at 7:30 pm, August 30 at 2pm in the Wells-Metz Theatre.