Company of Wolves stages their explosive retelling of The Bacchae across the UK
UK Tour: Tuesday 2nd March – Saturday 24th April 2027
Following a hugely successful Scottish tour, Glasgow’s acclaimed Company of Wolves is embarking on a 10-venue UK tour this spring with their fiery physical retelling of The Bacchae. Reworking Euripides’ ancient Greek tragedy, first performed in Athens in 405BC, The Bacchae is a powerful solo performance bringing to life the myth of Dionysos, the untamed god of theatre, wine and hedonism, through storytelling, movement and ancient song.
Written and performed by Ewan Downie (Julius Caesar, Achilles, Company of Wolves), The
Bacchae sees him embody five characters from Greek mythology, multi-rolling as Dionysus, his father Zeus, his mother Semele, her sister Agave and Agave’s son Pentheus, King of Thebes. With original songs by Ewan Downie and Anna Porubcansky (UNBECOMING, UK tour; Seven Hungers, The Barn Banchory), The Bacchae challenges conventional boundaries of gender and identity, taking audiences on a transformative journey from rejection and vengeance to rebirth.
The Bacchae is the final work directed by the late choreographer and creative director Ian Spink (A Mouthful of Birds, Young Vic; Petruska, Scottish Ballet), co-founder of the renowned dance company Second Stride, the first British contemporary dance company to tour the US. Spink was a significant creative influence on both The Bacchae and Downie’s previous solo work, Achilles (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018), and his legacy remains central to the production.
This rendition of the show is also being directed by Heather Knudtsen (The Believers are but Brothers, UK tour; Illegal, Scandal Theatre) and has been developed closely with the School of Classics at the University of St Andrews and Ancient Greek specialist Dr Michael Carroll. The creative team also includes set and costume designer Alisa Kalyanova (Supposing by Zinnie Harris, Traverse Theatre; Die Fledermaus, Opera Bohemia), sound designer Anna Porubcansky (UNBECOMING, UK tour; Seven Hungers, The Barn Banchory) and lighting designer Katharine Williams (Walk with Me, Bloomsbury Festival; Maggie & Me, The Enemy, National Theatre of Scotland).
Lead Artist and co-Artistic Director Ewan Downie comments, I first fell in love with this story 30 years ago, so making this show has been a long time coming. The story of a god who is so upset when he’s rejected that he takes terrifying and bloody revenge, has always rung true.
After reaching a huge range of audiences, from local to international, at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2025, and then touring to 13 venues Scotland-wide over Spring 2026, I’m delighted to now have the opportunity to take this show to people all across England.
Since we first made the show in 2023 it has only become more relevant, more urgent: in a time of relentless division, The Bacchae looks at what pushing others away costs, and what it might take for us to be whole again.