Just hours before the play was to be shown on Monday afternoon, BYU canceled the University of Utah’s production of the Greek tragedy, “The Bakkhai” because of content not suited for the BYU audience.

BYU’s official statement on the subject, in a news release, said:

“While we respect the work of our colleagues at the University of Utah and plan to continue to have the Annual Greek Festival perform at BYU, ‘The Bakkhai’ itself presents difficult material and the approach of this production could be problematic for members of our audience.”

BYU decided not to show the play on campus Monday afternoon for several reasons, but mainly because of the content of the play itself and of this particular production.

“Earlier in the day Jim [Svendsen] and I had several discussions about this particular production and as the chair of the theater department I have made the decision that we will not have that performance here due to just a couple of things that have to do with our audience,” said Roger Sorensen, chair of BYU’s theater department.

“‘The Bakkhai’ itself is difficult material and the particular approach and concept for this production will be problematic for some of our audience members which we felt we would like to not have.”

Roger Macfarlane, a professor of humanities at BYU, said he had been informed that 350 tickets had been pre-sold and that they were expecting many students to purchase tickets at the door. All ticket holders will receive full refunds, including any service charges.

Early Monday morning, while the cast andon  crew were setting up, both schools came to a consensus that the play should not be performed.

Director Larry West said questions addressed in the play could be applicable to LDS students and regrets the opportunity to not be able to perform the play at BYU.

“‘The Bakkhai’ on its surface is about sex, wine and losing one’s inhibition and at its core is about defining god,” West said. “I would have loved to discuss this in the BYU setting.”

In a preview article for the performance, which ran in Monday’s edition of The Daily Universe, West was quoted as saying:

“We may push the envelope a little bit but that is certainly not my intention to do anything other than what is in that play and what is in that play are those questions and big issues about religion and sexuality.”

The above quote about pushing the envelope may have referred to the modern interpretation of the play and the choice of costumes, both of which were factors in the production not being shown.

A pre-performance lecture, however, still took place at 4 p.m., where artistic director and dramaturge of the production, Jim Svendsen, spoke of the relevance and importance of this production and Greek theater.

Even with the last minute decision to pull the play, both universities plan on continuing to work together in the future.

“This is something that we agreed on that just made sense for this production and next year we will come back with a new production,” Svendsen said. “We have been doing this since ’82.”