The Bacchae - TNT

From the moment Alan Cumming descends — head first and bare-buttocked — onto the stage, you know that David Greig's version for the National Theatre of Scotland is no slavish rendering of Euripides' classic tragic tale. Camp and flirtatious in his shiny gold outfit (a neat little waistcoat atop a kilt-style skirt) and with his hair in unruly curls, Cumming's androgynous Dionysus exacts a dreadful revenge on his royal relatives who refuse to believe that he is the son of Zeus, king of the gods. Surrounded by a gospel-style singing and dancing chorus of Maenads (all provocatively clad in scarlet) he tempts his repressed cousin Pentheus out of his suit and into a floor-length emerald gown to spy on their ecstatic rituals. The consequences are horrific. Brash and showy, there's nothing subtle about this pyrotechnic but accessible interpretation — until Paola Dionisotti's crazed Agave emerges from her Bacchanalian frenzy and realises, too late, the enormity of what she has done. Not for purists — but very entertaining.
Lyric Hammersmith, King St, Hammersmith, W6. (0870-0500 511). Until September 22. £13-£27