Overview

• The production marks Indhu Rubasingham’s first outing as National Theatre artistic director, a milestone as the first woman and first person of colour in the role.
• Debut playwright Nima Taleghani updates Euripides’s tragedy in modern verse, centering a politically charged chorus led on stage by Clare Perkins.
• Critics praise the spectacle, citing Robert Jones’s rotating marble-slab set, a giant bleeding horse head and Kate Prince’s propulsive choreography.
• Performances draw notice, with Ukweli Roach as Dionysus and James McArdle as Pentheus highlighted by reviewers.
• Early notices describe the script and tone as uneven or shouty, even as the show makes an overt statement about the National’s mission, with the run scheduled through 1 November at the Olivier.