Comparison of
The play A Mouthful of Birds by Caryl Churchill and David Lan is loosely based around the themes explored by Euripides in The Bacchae. Both plays share similar themes and issues, yet contain many contrasting characters and circumstances due to the modernisation or appropriation of The Bacchae into a post-modern theatre piece for a contemporary audience with different views, morals and beliefs. The plays both concentrate on themes of violence, possession and transformation. Both works show women violently breaking out of their stereotypical role of the time, and acting possessed, or losing control of the physical and emotional realities of life. The Bacchae demonstrates this mainly through the Bacchaen women who are assumedly possessed by a power or spirit, that of the God Dionysus whom they worship. They are possessed by a madness that causes them to act violently and erratically, for example when Agave is taken over by this madness she kills her son without realizing who he is (Pg. 735 of Thea 111 Collected Plays Handbook). A Mouthful of Birds 'contextualise[s] modern forms of possession (addiction, anxiety, memory, passion etc.) within the Euripidean paradigm of the relation between pleasure, power and violence' .
This provides another reason as to why previous knowledge of The Bacchae would prove as an advantage to understand some of the meaning hidden in the text and movements of A Mouthful of Birds. To appropriate this into post-modern theatre, Caryl Churchill and David Lan use the 'Bacchae's madness as violent and "possessive" with contemporary psychological models of the self' . Considering that in its time a cast of all male actors performed it an underlying sarcastic element of humour is presented. The Bacchae is often seen as a play that openly mocks women and the ease at which they embrace hysteria. ugh the basic themes are similar, the execution of the plays onstage in their respective times made both productions entirely different. The reason being is that there are characters from The Bacchae adapted into the storyline of A Mouthful of Birds, for example, Dionysus opens and closes the play with a dance that is both sensual and seductive. A Mouthful of Birds contextualises the type of possession presented in The Bacchae to carry on the theme of the play, but the story and direction are changed in order to suit the audience and circumstance of that time. The Bacchae was performed as part of a festival to worship the God Dionysus, and was more than likely written for the sole purpose of being part of the festival and its worshipping and entertainment properties. Thus, the themes are basically the same, yet carried out differently, hence why it would be interesting to have previous knowledge of both plays before viewing either. The post-modern version uses things such as dance and movement to convey non-verbal messages, and the meaning of the play is more hidden in what is implied, rather than what is said and done. A Mouthful of Birds, being a post-modern piece, was basically open to manipulation of characters, script, theme, setting (for example, one production in London directed by David Korins had a set with 12 doors for actors to enter and exit through) and overall execution. Thus, the play carries the theme of hysteria (mainly in women) and possession by spirits, madness and passion, yet perhaps in a slightly less serious way than A Mouthful of Birds. The Bacchae leads audience members to believe that the women are overpowered by their dedication to worshipping Dionysus- worship being an act of pleasure and personal gain (as in favours from the Gods) in Ancient Greece, it is seen that they lose control and are transformed because of their passion. Both plays are very confronting when viewed on stage, however, it is not only the great difference in time periods that affected the execution of the script, it was also the circumstances under which it was performed.
Common topics in this essay:
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Acceptance Essays
