Pentheus, the young king of Thebes, has banned the wild ritual worship of the god Dionysos, a young “foreign” god (in fact, the son of Semele, princess of Thebes, and Zeus). Dionysos has traveled now to his mother’s city, retinue of maenads in tow, to establish his cult in Greece. When he meets resistance he drives the women of Thebes mad and sends them to the hills to partake in his worship. Meanwhile, in the city with his chorus of maenads, Dionysos takes on human form in an attempt to change Pentheus’ mind. The ensuing struggle between freedom and restraint, old and new, rational and irrational, foreign and Greek, man and god eventually leads to tragic death and devastation for the city.