Cyborphic presents Odysseus, Not Your Hero at the Lambeth Fringe next month. Written and directed by Christos Callow Jr, who also plays Odysseus, this 50 minute comedy production is playing at the Bread & Roses Theatre.
“Greek warrior-king Odysseus is on the way home after the Trojan war.
But his questionable methods have upset Poseidon, the God of the Sea. The God captures Odysseus and challenges him to a series of games – from cooking for a cannibal Cyclops to resisting the song of Siren influencers.
The games will determine the hero’s worth and whether he deserves to make it home safe. Who is the real hero of the Odyssey, the king or the people?”
Where: Bread & Roses Theatre
When: 1-2 Oct
Ticket link: https://lambethfringe.com/events/odysseus-not-your-hero
Christos tells us more about the show!
What inspired the creation of Odysseus Not Your Hero, and what’s all this about cannibalism?
There’s a whole tradition of stories, poems, adaptations inspired by Odysseus in Greece. Modern Greeks grow up with them but they aren’t as well-known outside our country.
Kazantzakis’ take on the myth for example is definitely an inspiration, as is the satirical Odysseus, Come Home by Kambanellis.
What definitely made this project a priority was when the cast of Nolan’s upcoming Odyssey film was announced – not a single Greek voice in there!
The same happens in a lot of mainstream productions of Ancient Greek drama in the UK too. It’s difficult to not experience this as erasure.
Then Greeks ourselves can be too proud of our heroes – so the question of the play, whose hero is Odysseus, is kind of addressed to everyone.
The play asks the audience to identify mainly with his crew, and look at the story from their point of view.
Another main inspiration are TTRPGs [table-top role-playing games]– so various episodes from the myth are turned into wild games hosted by a game-master Poseidon.
This is where the cannibal cooking challenge comes in, as Odysseus is asked to show off his cooking skills to impress the Cyclops.
To reassure you, it’s still theatre so no actual cooking is taking place in the show… except for the characters roasting each other.
Why should audiences come along to the show, and what might they expect?
It’s nerdy, playful, and has a Modern Greek vibe – I hope this gives audiences a different kind of flavour of the myth.
There’s some audience engagement as well, and the audience / crew are invited to influence the outcome of the story, especially around the games.
We’re usually expected to only identify with a protagonist but what about Poseidon’s perspective, or the point of view of the crew?
Odysseus, Not Your Hero is a comedy that asks many questions around these myths, so I hope audiences are both entertained and continue the conversation afterwards – with a drink or two (but no lotus fruit!).
Do you find fringe festivals inspiring?
Absolutely! I’m fond of the community and accessibility of these festivals; they’re places where one group can try something new / a work-in-progress and another can bring an existing show they’re touring.
Plus, the lovely sense of belonging to a much larger event, to see other shows and interact with many more artists during the festival.
We’re excited to bring our Odysseus play to the Bread & Roses theatre and Lambeth Fringe.
We also have our own fringe festival, Talos, a science fiction theatre festival which I started in 2015 and we’re actually taking it to Bread & Roses Theatre in December 11-13 this year! ( https://www.cyborphic.com/talos-v )
So I was also happy to find out there are other shows on Lambeth Fringe with sci-fi or speculative fiction elements or exploring Greek myths as well.
What’s next for the show?
Our hope is to take this to further venues in 2026 (it’s only appropriate since Odysseus himself visits many places in his adventure!) Depending on how Talos is going, we may also bring it back to Bread & Roses then…
For me, it’s really important to see more theatre adaptations of Greek myths that involve a Greek cast or creatives, and I ideally hope this play can contribute to conversations around what Greek voices can bring to such productions.
As the play’s structure & games have been inspired by TTRPG games, I would love to develop a more game-focused version too! Time permitting, this may be a next step too… But that’d be a different kind of Odyssey!