Oh Babylon (1989)

Inspired by Athenian playwright Euripides' ancient Greek tragedy, The Bacchae, Costas Ferris' adaptation foregrounds the plight of King Pentheus of Thebes and his mother Agave: the eldest daughter of Cadmus and queen of the Maenads, the female followers of god Dionysus. In this modern version of the play, Pentheus is a modern Athenian, preoccupied with finishing writing a book after denying Dionysus' divinity and banning his worship. As a result, the unseen but ever-present deity thirsts for revenge. Now, surreal visions and fevered hallucinations torment Pentheus, blurring the fragile boundaries between reality and fantasy, time and space. Are the images divine revelations or perplexing, hypnotic illusions?