The Bacchae has inspired a handful of operas, including at least three that are available on CD: Szymanowski's King Roger (1926) and Hans Werner Henze's The Bassarids (1966), each available from the Koch Schwann label; and Harry Partch's Revelation in the Courthouse Park (1961), available on the Tomato label. Other operatic versions include Egon Wellesz's Die Bakchantinnen (1931); Daniel Bortz's Backanterna (1991); and John Buller's Bakxai (1992).

Italian director and writer Giorgio Ferroni produced a filmed adaptation of Euripides's play in 1961 called Le Baccanti. The film stars Taina Elg as Dirce (a character Ferroni introduced to his version of the story), Pierre Brice as Dionysus, and Elberto Lupo as Pentheus. An English version, called Bacchantes is available on video.

In 1968 the avant-garde American theatre producer Richard Schechner formed his own company called the Performance Group. Their first production, staged in a converted garage, was Dionysus in 69, a reworking of The Bacchae that explored...