Bakkhai on the Storm

 

Bakkhai on the Storm

SCENE 1

(Darkness. A faint, crackling hum, like an old radio tuning in. The sound of wind, distant and whispering.)

DIONYSUS (whispering, distant at first, then growing closer):
Is everybody in?
Is everybody in?
(A pause. The organ hum deepens, a faint heartbeat joins it.)
The ceremony is about to begin...

(The hiss of static, voices murmuring, overlapping, neon lights buzzing to life)

DIONYSUS (soft, eerie):
The face in the mirror won’t stop.
The girl behind won’t disappear.
The phone is dead—the voice in the next room fades...

(Distant, distorted voices whisper incomprehensible phrases. The sound of a match striking. A sudden whoosh—fire igniting.)

Strange gods are coming... Savage heads, wild-eyed...

(A deep rumble, the crackle of fire, a distant, crowd cheering, chanting, laughing wildly.)

DIONYSUS:
You have come seeking something, haven’t you?
(A pause. The heartbeat slows, waiting.)
A new world... a new god.
(Another pause, electricity crackles.)
I am the door. I am the key. I am the fire and the night.
(Whispering)
Are you ready to be set free?

THE OPENING RIFF OF BREAK ON THROUGH

(Tambourines shake. The Bakkhai emerge in a frenzy—voices whooping, laughing, shrieking, stomping. Chanting.)

DIONYSUS:
You know the day destroys the night!
Night divides the day!
Tried to run, tried to hide...

BAKKHAI (shouting back, wild, ecstatic):
Break on through to the other side!!

DIONYSUS:
We chased our pleasures here...
Dug our treasures there...
But can you still recall—
The time we cried?

BAKKHAI (shouting):
Break on through to the other side!!

DIONYSUS (whispering now, low, intimate, dark):
The doors are open now.
(A pause. The air hums.)
The only question is... will you step through?

SILENCE.

(The faint echo of footsteps... a door creaking open... then—nothing.)

SCENE 2

NARRATOR
Order...
Discipline...

Thebes. Birthplace of the God Dionysus.
Thebes. First place to deny Dionysus a god.
Thebes, city of his mothers sisters who mocked and derided her until her death.

Kadmos no longer king, now his grandson Pentheus, son of Agave, carries the crown.

Pentheus, craving the straight lines of power, carving through the chaos.
Denying his own cousin Dionysus his godhood. Pentheus, denying to his determent, Dionysus his due… Denying him, to his doom.

The people of Thebes push and pull against Pentheus’ plotting, seeking revelry, yearning for release flee to the hills and wilds and hidden ways; seeking freedom, seeking ecstasy…. Seeking to find themselves by loosing themselves in madness. Loosing themselves in the God.

PENTHEUS (sharp, commanding):
Order! Order!
What is happening to this city?

(He slams his hands against the table. His advisors murmur)

PENTHEUS (tight, measured):
Look at them...
Those fools. Those lost ones.
Drunk on madness...
Chaos...
Song.

(A faint tambourine shakes in the background, almost too soft to hear.)

PENTHEUS (pacing, voice tightening):
They crawl like shadows through the streets—
Worshiping this... god?
This rock-and-roll king with his wild-eyed horde.

(A woman's laugh cuts through the air—sensual, drunken—before fading.)

PENTHEUS (spitting the word):
Freedom...
They call it freedom.

ADVISOR 1 (nervous, murmuring):
Decay.

ADVISOR 2:
Disorder.

PENTHEUS (low, venomous):
Disease.

(The tambourine rattles louder.)

PENTHEUS (to himself, harder now):
But we—
We stand for what’s right.
We stand for the clean lines of control...
The straight path of discipline...
The law that binds us all.

(whispering, sharper)
And I—
I will not let this …. god...
This Dionysus...
Corrupt what I have built.

PEOPLE ARE STRANGE BEGINS TO PLAY

PENTHEUS (sings, calm, disdainful):
People are strange...
When you're a stranger...
Faces look ugly...
When you're alone.

(The Bakkhai’s laughter—soft, mocking in the background.)

PENTHEUS (louder, more pointed):
Women seem wicked...
When you're unwanted...
Streets are uneven...
When you're down.

(The Bakkhai’s voices join him.)

PENTHEUS (loudly) and the BAKKHAI (mockingly, quietly):
When you're strange...
Faces come out of the rain...

PENTHEUS (forceful now):
They crawl through the dark!
They chant in their frenzy!
Their laughter—
It echoes like thunder!

(The Bakkhai laugh.)

PENTHEUS (furious):
They’re strange!
They’re strange!

BAKKHAI:
When you're strange...
No one remembers your name...

(The tambourine rattles faster, glass breaking, a moan of pleasure)

PENTHEUS (voice faltering):
When you're strange...
The world feels strange...

(The music begins distort)

PENTHEUS (slamming his fist down):
Enough.

(The music cuts out.)

PENTHEUS (voice cold again):
This madness spreads like wildfire.
We must contain it... silence it.

ADVISOR 1 (hesitant):
But the crowds—

PENTHEUS:
A cult. Nothing more.

ADVISOR 2:
They say he's a god.

PENTHEUS (smiling thinly):
They think they can rewrite the rules,
Then we will make an example of them.
Then we'll see how divine he feels...
When stripped of his power...
And cast in chains.

(The Bakkhai laugh softly)

PENTHEUS (low, certain):
He will bow down to me.

BAKKHAI (a whisper in the dark):
When you're strange...

(The tambourine rattles once—twice—then falls silent.)

SCENE 3

BAKKHAI (low, reverent):
He comes.
Called by breathless prayers...
By the hunger beneath the skin...
By the whispers of those who would be free.
He comes.

DIONYSUS (soft, amused):
You called...
And I am come.

(Bakkhai murmur his name—half a prayer, half a gasp.)

DIONYSUS:
I am here.
Your shepherd.
Your guide.
Your wild god of freedom.

BIRD OF PREY BEGINS TO PLAY

DIONYSUS (singing, low, hypnotic):
Bird of prey...
Bird of prey...
Flying high...
Flying high...
In the summer sky...

(The Bakkhai echo him in whispers—In the summer sky....)

DIONYSUS (singing):
Bird of prey...
Bird of prey...
Flying high...
Flying high...
Take me on your flight.

(The Bakkhai echo him in whispers—On your flight…....)

DIONYSUS (soft, seductive):
I’ve heard you.
The whispers in the dark...
The drunken songs beneath midnight stars.

You’ve wanted something more...
Haven’t you?

(A single tambourine rattles.)

DIONYSUS (smiling):
Freedom...
Madness...
Ecstasy.

You can’t hide it from me.
I… see …… you.

They call me a stranger...
A liar...
A danger.

But I—
I am truth.

Why bow...
When you could dance?

(A murmur of laughter ripples through the crowd, with a hint of fear.)

DIONYSUS:
Why obey...
When you could revel?
Into this house, we're born
Into this world, we're thrown
Why live in chains,
When you could be free?

Expose yourself to your deepest fear...
After that, fear has no power.
And the fear of freedom...
Shrinks and vanishes.

BAKKHAI (whispering):
You are free.

DIONYSUS
You are free.

LOVE ME TWO TIMES BEGINS

DIONYSUS (singing):
Love me two times, baby...
Love me twice today...

Love me two times, girl...
I'm goin’ away.

One for tomorrow...
One just for today.

Love me two times...
I’m...
Here to stay.

(The Bakkhai cry out—a wild, guttural sound.)

DIONYSUS (whispering through the mic):
Take what you want...
Drink what you crave...
Be what they told you to fear.

BAKKHAI:
We are free.

DIONYSUS:
You are free.

BAKKHAI (roaring):
We are free!!

(The music turns into chaos)

DIONYSUS (triumphant):
You’ve waited long enough.
Now...
Let’s see if this city can handle the storm.

DIONYSUS
Love me two times...
I'm...
Here to stay.

(The final note lingers before falling into silence.)

SCENE 4

(The faint crackle of a half-tuned radio plays laughter, tambourines, voices rising and falling.)

TIRESIAS (murmuring):
Hear that, Kadmos?
That pulse...
That shimmer in the air?

KADMOS (grumbling):
I hear trouble Tiresias.
I hear madness.
I hear... young people with too much time on their hands.

(Tiresias chuckles—knowingly.)

TIRESIAS:
Ah...
But don’t you feel it?

That beat...
That old hunger waking up in the bones?

(He taps his staff again—now matching the sound on the radio.

KADMOS (snapping):
I feel nothing.

TIRESIAS:
Liar.

BAKKHAI (offstage, whispering):
Free yourself...
Free yourself...
Free yourself...

KADMOS:
They’re fools.
All of them.
Running wild after this... this...

This Dionysus.
This rock god.
With his hair and his hips and his songs...

TIRESIAS:
The gods have always come in strange shapes, Kadmos.
What if he's real?
What if he’s always been here—just waiting for us to remember him?

(A pause. The radio crackles—faint but rising—the first notes of HELLO I LOVE YOU play.)

TIRESIAS (soft, half-singing):
Hello...
I love you...
Won't you tell me your name?

KADMOS (gruff):
You sound ridiculous.

TIRESIAS:
Do I?

KADMOS (gruff):
We’re too old for this nonsense!
(uncertain)
Aren’t we?

TIRESIAS (grinning):
Old...
Yes.
But dead?
Not yet.

KADMOS:
We’ll make fools of ourselves.

TIRESIAS:
Better a fool than a corpse.

TIRESIAS (soft, coaxing):
Come, Kadmos...
Let’s see if these old bones can still dance.

(The music gets louder.)

TIRESIAS (singing, teasing):
Hello, I love you...
Won’t you tell me your name?
She’s walking down the street,
Blind to every eye she meets...
Do you think you’ll be the guy
To make the queen of the angels sigh?

KADMOS (grumbling, half-singing):
Hello, I love you...
Let me jump in your game...

TIRESIAS (laughing):
Look at you, Kadmos!
A king again!

KADMOS (breathless):
I haven’t danced like this since...
since...

TIRESIAS (soft, finishing the thought):
...since the gods still walked among us.

(The Bakkhai’s laughter echos.)

KADMOS (panting, laughing):
It feels...
good.

TIRESIAS (grinning wide):
It feels...
alive.

(The Bakkhai’s laughter echos louder, with come, come, come join us woven though it.)

TIRESIAS (soft, almost trembling):
They’re calling us, Kadmos.

KADMOS:
It’s madness.

TIRESIAS:
It’s life.

(A long pause)

KADMOS (whispering):
What will they say...
if they see us out there?

TIRESIAS:
They'll say...
The gods have come to dance among us once again!.

BAKKHAI (singing, distant):
Hello, I love you...
Let me jump in your game…

SCENE 5

NARRATOR:
Night falls on Thebes.
The city holds its breath.

Behind locked doors, the faithful slip from their beds and follow the music
down the alleys, through the fields, into the woods where the moon hangs heavy in the sky.
Hiding from the eyes of the king, the king who so desperately wants to deny
The king who so desperately wants to destroy
The king who so desperately wants to discover

But here—
inside these four walls—
the king sits alone.
Waiting.
Listening…..
Trying not to hear.

PENTHEUS (low, muttering to himself):
I am the law.
I am the hand that holds the city fast.
They cannot...
They will not...
Break me.

(a door creeks.)

DIONYSUS (soft, lilting):
You don't sound so sure, my king.

PENTHEUS:
You ....

DIONYSUS (mocking):
Did you think I wouldn't come?

You locked the doors...
But you left the window open.

(A gust of wind.)

Do you feel it yet?
That little tremor in your hands?
That ache behind your ribs?
That's the hunger, Pentheus.

PENTHEUS (sharper, trying to steady himself):
I... I don't want what you offer.

DIONYSUS (grinning):
Don't you?
Isn't that why you're still listening?

(The radio hisses—just for a moment—then clears again. CRYSTAL SHIP BEGINS)

DIONYSUS:
Before you slip into unconsciousness...
I'd like to have another kiss…
Another flashing chance at bliss,
Another kiss, another kiss...

PENTHEUS (low, shivering):
Stop it.

DIONYSUS:
Why?
It's just a song.

PENTHEUS:
You're twisting it.
You're—
(poisonous)
—seducing me.

DIONYSUS (soft, laughing):
Oh, Pentheus.
I've been seducing you since the moment you heard my name.

(The music gets louder)

DIONYSUS (whispering):
Do you know what happens to men who lock themselves away?
They start hearing voices in the dark.
They start dreaming of things they’re afraid to name.

PENTHEUS (shaking):
I...
I am not afraid.
You...
You think you can break me, don’t you?
You think you can seduce me into following you,
Into throwing everything I’ve built into the fire.

DIONYSUS (tender, cruel):
No?
Then why are your hands shaking?
I don’t need to break you, Pentheus.
I’m not here to destroy you.
I’m here to show you—
To show you what you’ve been missing….denying...yourself…..and denying others.

(soft, coaxing, almost affectionate)
Look at you, my dear Pentheus.
Still clinging to your name,
Your title, your crown.
But you’ve already lost itnalready, haven’t you?

You feel it now, don’t you?
The world breaking open.
The chains snapping, one by one.
The fire rising in your blood.

PENTHEUS (hoarse, uncertain):
This… this is wrong.
I am a king.
I am the law.

DIONYSUS (whispering):
You were.

(A long silence, then Dionysus laughs)

FIVE TO ONE BEGINS

DIONYSUS (singing, soft and teasing):
Five to one, baby... one in five…
No one here gets out alive
You get yours, baby, I'll get mine.
Gonna make it, baby, if we try.

PENTHEUS (hoarse, barely breathing):
Stop.

DIONYSUS (circling him):
The old get old, and the young get stronger.
May take a week, and it may take longer.
They got the guns, but we got the numbers.

PENTHEUS (desperate, whispering):
I am the law.

DIONYSUS:
You were.

But the law's just a trick...
A line drawn in the sand.

And the tide is coming in.

(A drumbeat begins, slow then faster, like a panicked heartbeat)

DIONYSUS (soft, coaxing):
Take off your cloak.

PENTHEUS:
No.

DIONYSUS (closer):
Take it off.
You don't need it where we're going.

(Pentheus whimpers)

DIONYSUS:
You want to feel it, don't you?

Just once.

What it's like to

let go.

PENTHEUS (voice cracking):
I can't.

DIONYSUS (soft, coaxing):
You can.
I can help you.

DIONYSUS (almost tender):
That's it...
Good boy. Your robe too… you don’t need that… there…. your crown.
Now, bare as birth...
Shall we dress you in something softer? Silk. Lace. Here, a …..girdle…. and here… a veil, a wreath of ivy

PENTHEUS (barely audible):
What are you doing to me?

DIONYSUS:
Nothing you don't want.

Gonna win, yeah, we’re takin’ over!
Come on!

The world is breaking open, Pentheus.
Can't you feel it?

PENTHEUS (gasping):
Yes...
I...
I feel it.

DIONYSUS (soft, triumphant):
Then say my name.

PENTHEUS (barely above a whisper):
Dionysus.

DIONYSUS:
Again.

PENTHEUS (louder now, half-lost):
Dionysus.

DIONYSUS:
Louder.

PENTHEUS (pleading, surrendering):
Dionysus!

DIONYSUS:
Look at what you’ve become. You are beautiful.
It’s time, my dear Pentheus.
Time to see the world as it truly is.
(A single pause)

No one here gets out alive…

Yeahhh, c’mon…

SCENE 6

NARRATOR:
They're out there now, out beyond the city fires; the daughters of Thebes… The daughters of dust...
Howling for blood beneath the black moon.

And the king is following them. Oh yes… hidden, costumed, he is following.
Following; desperate to destroy what he shall find, desperate to deny it,
Desperate to discover the mysteries and delve into the power he despises and desires.

(sounds of celebration, chanting, laughter, moaning)

DIONYSUS (soft, commanding):
Come closer, children.
The night is open.
The wine is flowing.
The fire is waiting.

All the kings...
All the fathers...
All the laws of men—
let them burn.

For now
We belong to the night.

LIGHT MY FIRE BEGINS

DIONYSUS (singing, smooth as sin):
You know that it would be untrue...
You know that I would be a liar...
If I was to say to you...
Girl, we couldn't get much higher...

THE BAKKHAI (echoing, breathless):
We couldn't get much higher...

DIONYSUS (soft, coaxing):
No time to wallow in the mire...

PENTHEUS (whispering):
I... I shouldn't be here.

DIONYSUS (closer now):
Try now...
We can only lose.
And our love become a funeral pyre

DIONYSUS:
Drink, my king.

It'll taste like honey on your tongue.
It'll taste like my kiss, like freedom.

PENTHEUS (hoarse):
I can't.

DIONYSUS (whispering):
You can…..
Come on, baby, light my fire...
Come on, baby, light my fire...
Try to set the night on fire!

(The sound of Pentheus drinking, the Bakkhai howl)

DIONYSUS:
Try to set the night on fire...

THE BAKKHAI (chanting):
Light it up...
Light it up...
Light the night on fire!

PENTHEUS (half-moan, half-sob):
What are you doing to me?

DIONYSUS (grinning, breath hot in his ear):
Letting you feel it.

PENTHEUS:
Feel what?

DIONYSUS:
Yourself.
For the first time.

(a cacophony of the Bakkhai)

PENTHEUS (but unconvincingly) :
NO –nn….no

DIONYSUS (triumphant):
That's it.
That's it, my love.
Now say my name.

PENTHEUS (gasping):
Dionysus...

DIONYSUS:
Louder.

PENTHEUS (breaking):
DIONYSUS!

THE BAKKHAI (howling):
DIONYSUS!

DIONYSUS (whispering):
Come with me, little king.

THE BAKKHAI (chanting):
Try to set the night on on fire!

DIONYSUS (singing):
Try to set the night on fire...

PENTHEUS (laughing, weeping):
I... I see him...

I see the god...

DIONYSUS (grinning):
Yes, little king.
You do.

SCENE 7

NARRATOR:

The little king in borrowed silk, The lion cub in the wolf’s den.

Out here… on the mountain… where all the masks come off.

No kings.
No laws.
No names.

Just flesh and hunger beneath the black moon.

DIONYSUS (soft, distant):
You wanted to see the truth, little king.

PENTHEUS (hoarse, shaking):
Not like this...

DIONYSUS (smiling—mocking):
There is no like this.

There is only what is.
What’s always been.

You asked to see the god.
Now the god is looking back.

(The Bakkhai let out a low, shivering laugh)

PENTHEUS (pleading):
Please…
Let me go….
I don't want this anymore.

DIONYSUS (soft, kindly):
But you do.
You wanted to lose yourself.
You wanted to feel something real.

Now look at you—
Dressed in a ripped gown, wine and lust staining your mouth
Eyes bright with wanting.
Yet still now, wanting to possess
Not to experience, but to own

You belong to me now, Pentheus.
And you will pay the price for your hubris

AGAVE (soft, sing-song—like she's dreaming):
A little lion cub...

NARRATOR:
Agave.
Once tender mother, doting and unheard; hidden away like all women, with their spinnings and their sorrows.
Once tender mother, now terrible, her hands are streaked with blood…. She doesn't know whose.
Lost in madness, lost within the God within, lost within the wilds without

PENTHEUS (questioning):
Mother​? Mother is that you?

AGAVE:
A little beast...
lost in the night.

PENTHEUS (pleading):
Mother, it’s me, your son

AGAVE (tender):
Did you come to die, little cub?

NARRATOR:
Pentheus' breath catches in his throat, because some part of him wants to say yes.

PENTHEUS (trembling, breath catching):
Mother...
It's me...

AGAVE (distant):
No… You're not my son. You're just meat.
(Screaming)
This is the one who defied the god.
This is the one who mocked us,
Who mocked him.
Show him no mercy.
Show him the truth.

DIONYSUS (singing softly):
This is the end...
Beautiful friend...
This is the end...

My only friend... the end…
Can you picture what will be,
So limitless and free...
Desperately in need...

PENTHEUS (like a little boy):
Please...
Mother, please...

AGAVE (soft):
What soft fur...
What big, bright eyes...

NARRATOR:
Agave moves closer, her fingers brushing his face, so gentle it almost feels like love.

AGAVE (whispering):
What a beautiful little lion cub...

DIONYSUS (singing—slow and quietly):
Desperately in need...
of some stranger's hand...

AGAVE (soft, breaking):
The lion must die.

PENTHEUS (crumbling):
No...

AGAVE (screaming):
The lion must die!

(The Bakkhai shriek, growls and grunts and Pentheus’ screams)

Narrator:
They swarm him, fingers clawing through silk, teeth at his flesh. Agave claws her way to the center, her hands wrapping around Pentheus' throat, not mother and son anymore, just hunter and prey.

DIONYSUS:
Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah

NARRATOR:
Pentheus is laughing now, wild and broken and free, because the god is in him. Because the fire is in him.

Because he has never felt more alive.

PENTHEUS (gasping, laughing, weeping):
I see him...
I see the god…

DIONYSUS (smiling):
Yes, little king.

Now die in his embrace.

This is the end...
Beautiful friend...
This is the end…
It hurts to set you free...
But you’ll never follow me...
The end of laughter and soft lies...
The end of nights we tried to die…

(The Bakkhai howl)

DIONYSUS (soft, satisfied):
This is the end...

SCENE 8

NARRATOR:
The mountainside in ruins. The fire pit at the center still smolders, thick smoke bleeding up into the pale bruised light of dawn.

The whole world feels hungover, like the mountain itself is trying to forget.

The Bakkhai lie scattered, crumpled in the dirt—
their bodies twitching in the slow aftershocks of trance.

Their makeup streaked. Their fingers raw.
Their mouths still sticky with blood.

At the center:

Agave.

She kneels in the dirt. her hair tangled and matted clutching her son’s severed head in both hands.

Her eyes glassy. Somewhere between waking and dreaming. Somewhere between mother and murderer.

AGAVE (barely awake):
The hunt was glorious...

(Sounds of the The Bakkhai stirring awake, groggy, hungover)

AGAVE (her voice stammers, proud then confused):
The lion...
He came to me...
And I...

I was so proud.
Look here, my trophy cradled in my lap

AGAVE (whispering):
No...

No, but...this is not a lion.

(A loud collective gasp, a long silence.)

FIRST BAKKHANTE (shaking):
It is done.

SECOND BAKKHANTE (hoarse, terrified):
The god has left us.

AGAVE (panicked):
What...
What is this?

Who is this?

Tell me!

NARRATOR:
She tilts the head, just slightly, like a child examining a broken doll.

Dawn slides across his face, washing out the paint, the smeared lipstick,
the silk veil crowned in ivy
leaving only Pentheus beneath it all.

(The opening chords of L.A. WOMAN fade in and out)

AGAVE (singing—wailing):
Well, I just got into town about an hour ago...

BAKKHAI (soft, distant):
Took a look around...
See which way the wind blows...

AGAVE (singing—raw, voice cracking):
I see your hair is burning
Hills are filled with fire
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar...

KADMOS (soft, gently):
You see it now... don't you?

AGAVE (breath catching):
Pentheus...
My son...
What have I done?

KADMOS:
The spell is broken. Our punishments are met.
City and family and king – we denied the God, denied his birth, denied his existence,
We denied him his due.
In revelry that should have wrought release, we found naught but remorse.

You held your son in your arms.
And you killed him.

(A long silence.)

(Agave screams, The Bakkhai wail behind her)

BAKKHAI (singing, low and ghostly):
Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light?
Or just another lost angel...
City of night...
City of night...

AGAVE (whispering):
My son...
My little boy...

AGAVE (singing—barely a breath):
Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light...

Or just another lost angel...

BAKKHAI (whispering):
City of night...

AGAVE (whispering—cradling her son's head):
Oh...
my city...

Oh...
my son...

What have I done?

SCENE 9

Dionysus (spoken):
You mortals.
You think yourselves wise,
Yet your wisdom is but a shadow—
Flickering on the walls of your fragile minds.

I came to show you joy—
Freedom!
To unbind you from the chains of your laws,
Your morality, your fears.

But you—
You mock what you cannot understand.
You cage what you cannot control.
So I showed you the truth.
I showed you the beast that lurks within.
The lion’s maw.
The mother’s hands.

(His voice turns darker more intense)
The madness you call my curse
Is the mirror of your own desires.

(Pause)

I am the lizard king,
I can do anything.
I am the god of ecstasy,
The god of madness,
The god of your deepest, hidden truths.

And you—
You will remember this day,
The day I unmasked the lies of kings and men.
The day I tore down your cities of order,
Your temples of restraint.

DIONYSUS (singing a cappella)

Wild child, full of grace
Savior of the human race
Your cool face...

Natural child, terrible child
Not your mother’s or your father’s child
You’re our child, screaming wild

Dionysus (singing):
Wild child, full of grace
Savior of the human race
Your cool face
Your cool face
Your cool face

Dionysus (spoken, laughing, smirking):
You remember when we were in Africa?

I do.

We live, we die,
And death not ends it.
You cling to your stories of resurrection,
Your dreams of gods that forgive.
But I—
I am not your savior.
That you must find within yourself.

WHEN THE MUSICS OVER BEGINS

Dionysus (singing):
When the music’s over...
When the music’s over...
Turn out the lights...
Turn out the lights...

BAKKHAI (distant, whispering):

Turn out the lights...
Turn out the lights...

Dionysus (singing):
The music is your special friend
Dance on fire as it intends
Music is your only friend...
Until the end...
Until the end...

BAKKHAI (distant, whispering)

Until the end...

Dionysus (spoken, quieter but intense):
You begged for salvation,
And I gave you the truth.
You begged for peace,
And I gave you freedom.

Dionysus (spoken, amused):
This is the strangest life I’ve ever known.

Dionysus (singing with the Bakkhai):
When the music’s over...
Turn out the lights...
Turn out the lights…

Dionysus (spoken):
Cancel my subscription to the resurrection.

(The sound of wind, distant and the faint, crackling hum of an old radio tuning fading out)