I really wasn’t sure what to expect from DION; A Rock Opera, currently premiering at Coal Mine Theatre.  It’s billed as a “rock opera” which worried me as very loud music in. a very small space is so not my thing.  On the other hand it’s based on Euripides The Bacchae and I’m a sucker for a really good reworking of classical Greek drama.  So I went.  It was absolutely the right decision.  This show rocks in an entirely good way.

It’s a through sung piece; more or less.  There are places where it gets a sort of recit like, close to speaking, treatment but mostly it’s most definitely sung.  Ted Dykstra’s music is in a melodic, “soft rock” kind of style which is easy on the ear and the sound balance is very good and not at all overwhelming.  There’s a three piece band; piano, guitar/percussion and bass, and they never overpower the singers.  Steven Mayoff’s smart libretto is easily understood.

The set up at Coal Mine has the action taking place on a long, narrow strip with two rows of seats either side and the band away, almost out of sight, at one end.  The audience, especially the front row, is very close to the action but it feels intimate rather than claustrophobic.  I really liked the way the story unfolded.  It’s really a relatively straightforward take on the original.  Pentheus rules Thebes as a sort of kleptocratic tech bro and the world is out of joint.  His mother, Agave, and grandfather Cadmus, still grieving for his lost daughter Semele, are apparently unable or unwilling to do anything.  In steps DION; the half divine off spring of Semele and Zeus whose cult represents both freedom and a return to a more balanced natural order.  Agave and Cadmus are soon converted but Pentheus attempts the path of repression.  His brutal, rationalistic, approach doesn’t convince even him.  he goes for a trial outing with the Bacchae which ends with his mother, and the others, dismembering him in a Bacchic frenzy.

I really liked how Mayoff told the story with a couple of neat modern twists without any of the “this is an old Greek legend so you won’t understand it” apologetics that infest so many Toronto shows based on a literary classic. He lets the story stand for itself and incorporates some clever modernisation while leaving a few unexplained references to the “matter of Thebes” for those who get them.

There’s a nine strong cast.  The principal characters; DION(ysos), Cadmus, Tiresias, Pentheus and Agave are backed up by a four strong chorus of Bacchae.  They put in a fantastically high energy, well acted and generally well sung ensemble performance.  It all centres of course on the sexually ambiguous DION played rather brilliantly by Jacob Macinnis.  Her’s a very good actor and a decent singer and totally convinces as the semi-divine title character.  The strongest singing performances come from SATE as the blind seer Tiresias and Allen Louis as the elderly Cadmus.  The former sings in a powerful, almost soul singer kind of way while the latter has a bass-baritone that from the first note one imagines could sing real opera.  He has some serious low notes!

Allister MacDonald as Pentheus isn’t the strongest singer but he excels in bringing out the unbalanced nature of the power obsessed monarch.  His transformation to a sexually ambiguous reveller; in dress and heels is rather effective.  Carly Street as Agave is also a solid singer and actor.  The four strong chorus; Max Borowski, Saccha Dennis, Kaden Forsberg and Kelsey Verzotti, play a vital role.  They have a lot of singing and some seriously energetic choreography (Kiera Sangster) to cope with.  They are terrific movers and seem to act like the energy source for the whole production.  Some of their numbers are mesmerising.  They also get (maybe DION aside) the coolest costumes (Scott Penner); variously bare skin, body stockings, fishnets and booty shorts all decorated, where possible, with ambiguous Bacchic text which definitely sexes things up.  DION gets some pretty cool duds too!  Throw in atmospheric lighting by Bonnie Beecher and clever use of the unusual space by director Peter Hinton-Davis and one has a pretty complete show.  75 minutes or so seems to fly by.

This is a great way to do one of the greatest classical Athenian dramas.  It has music and dance like the original.  The modernisation is whip smart.  It’s sexy with plenty of eye candy.  And it’s as thought provoking today as it was in 405 BCE.

DION; a Rock Opera runs at Coal Mine Theatre until March 3rd.

Photo credits: Dahlia Katz