From Bakkhai, a translation by Anne Carson of the play by Euripides. The book was published this month by New Directions. The adaptation was produced in 2015 by the Almeida Theatre in London. Carson is a poet, translator, and essayist. Pentheus is the king of Thebes. Dionysos is the god of wine, fertility, pleasure, madness, and frenzy.
pentheus: Release his hands.
He’s in my net, he won’t escape.
Well,
stranger,
you’re not bad-looking.
Obvious why you appeal to women — and that’s
your main demographic in Thebes, am I right?
…