MS: In Nobson’s irreverence we can see the movements of Dionysus, god of wine and, when we’re drunk, of carnival, of unleashed animal spirit.
You don’t just have a laugh and poke fun when you’re with Dionysus. Dionysus is an androgynous and ambiguous figure, an outsider, a god of epiphany, of altered states, of madness, as well as of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine. As Eleutherios he frees his followers from self-conscious fear and care, offering opposition to conventional society, and subverts the oppressive restraints of the powerful through wine, music and ecstatic dance. He represents everything which is chaotic, dangerous and unexpected, everything which escapes human reason.
Pentheus, King of Thebes, attempted to control the god and his followers, bring them to disciplined order, suppress their dealings with otherness. But, though he denied it, he also wanted to know, to partake, to share. He spied on the celebrations from the top of a tree disguised as a maenad, a female follower. The Bacchai, led by his own mother, tore down the tree, and ate him, torn limb from limb.