Two Suns: My Encounter with the Text, Translation, and Performance of Euripides' Bakkhai

Euripides' Bakkhai is an intensely charismatic and enduring play. In this thesis, I compose a new translation of the ancient work, while staging a production of the play simultaneously. I discuss how my work on the new performance, staging the play in modern conventions of theatre, affects the translation. Furthermore, I include my production notes: diaries of my questions, thoughts, decisions, and problems while staging the play. Using a narrative arc and the deeply personal nature of the play, I weave together for the reader my own story with that of Euripides, in order to create something unique, momentary, and immediate.