Clare Perkins in Bacchae [Marc Brenner]

LOUD, provocative and visually arresting, Nima Taleghani’s debut play launches Indhu Rubasingham’s tenure at the National.

Best known as an actor, Taleghani’s is an audacious reinterpretation of Euripides’ Bacchae. Rubasingham’s production opens with a striking image: the giant head of a white horse, streaked with blood (courtesy of designer Robert Jones), looms over the stage.

Led by Vida (Clare Perkins), the Bacchae have retreated to the mountains, determined to defend their rights as women, echoing Iran’s feminist chant “Woman, Life, Freedom”.

Set on liberating the women of Thebes, they’ve captured Agave (Sharon Small), the mother of King Pentheus (James McArdle), who views their Dionysian excesses as a threat.

Dionysos (Ukweli Roach, resplendent in gold), god of “rhyme, wine and a good time” seeks to confront his mortal family who refuse to recognise him as the son of Zeus. He believes Agave rejected him as a child and the emotional wound still festers.

Disguised as a foreign traveller, he enters the city. His cousin Pentheus, a petty dictator, orders his arrest, but Dionysos escapes and lures him to the mountains, encouraging him to dress as a woman.

Meanwhile, divisions among the Bacchae threaten their unity. Taleghani accentuates the outsider nature of Dionysos and his followers, portraying them as denigrated migrants, branded as terrorists by Pentheus.

Rubasingham delights in breaking the fourth wall. Her 100-minute production is spectacular and well-acted, though the central message is lost amid a confusing narrative and competing themes. It’s the opening and closing moments that resonate most.

Until November 1
nationaltheatre.org.uk/