Words by India Farnham; production images by Mark Senior
Acting was never really my thing. A bookworm with a loud and slightly monotonous reading voice, I was consistently cast as a narrator in my school plays, and found drama class (particularly, Zeus forbid, if they made me improvise) painfully embarrassing. Zip Zap Boing: I’m getting the shivers just thinking about it.
Anywho, luckily for me, I realised pretty quickly that you could love theatre from beyond the stage, following and reviewing it. You could leave the acting part to the naturals, to the people who shimmer and shine and transform under the spotlight…
The people, it turns out, who are exactly like Thespis, the star of Mischief Theatre’s first ever musical Thespians. Or, as its subtitle reads: Greece The Musical (but not that one).
That’s right, Greece is the word in this brand-new all-singing, all-dancing ancient-historical-comedy about the origins of theatre from the titans of choregraphed chaos Mischief Theatre. And if you don’t already know who Mischief are… well, you just definitely do; they’re the theatre company behind a decade of gloriously disastrous British theatre favourites including The Play That Goes Wrong, The Comedy About Spies and Groan Ups. Opa!
Now, my knowledge of ancient Greece extends about as far as the 20 pages of my brother’s Percy Jackson book that I read on holiday when I was bored of my own book about 12 years ago. Alas! If you’re in the same boat, then fear not, mere mortal, because Thespis and co. of Ikaria island are a self-aware bunch, unafraid to tell it like it is (and to tell us that there’s been a drought. Which they do tell us. Quite a lot.)
The island’s population (all five of them) are feeling rather sorry for themselves until Greece’s evil ruler (think Ursula, but with the aesthetic of Snow White’s Evil Queen), The Tyrant, decides to put on a Eurovision-style prayer contest to ask Dionysus, the God of wine, grapes, and various other festivity-inducing things, for some rain. Pretty please. With a cherry on top. They call it… Dionysia. If it goes well, they’ll do it ‘twice-ia!’
Ikaria are keen to participate. Let me introduce you to the team; you’re gonna love ‘em. Leading the pack is Mia Jerome’s down-to-earth Melampus, whose suspiciously northern charm, frank disposition and uncanny ability to see into the future (‘Rome wasn’t built in a day!… Also, it doesn’t exist yet,’) make her the natural captain. At her right hand is dreamy, creative Atlas, played by a truly adorable Luke Latchman, whose preoccupation with the rules (‘Actually, rule 172 states…’), vaguely repressed sexuality and low self-esteem (‘I’m a lost cause, and I’m okay with that!’) make him… well, Melampus’ human notepad, is what.
Bringing strong himbo energy and seriously good vocals (and at least a couple of apples stuffed in… mysterious places) is Marc Pickering’s brilliant Adonis. West End veteran Claire-Marie Hall’s Poly has a distinctly Hermione vibe about her, and her caring nature extends furthest when its subject is her brother: the eponymous Thespis, played characteristically perfectly by an endlessly earnest, annoyingly talented James Spence. (Sorry James. But seriously. How can someone be so toned and so melodic… all at the same time?!)
And so the games begin! The world’s first ever Dionysia gets off to a cracking start with help from the show’s outstanding chorus and Jasmine Swan’s gloriously whimsical, pastel-toned set. Thespis discovers his Zeus-given acting abilities (and, well… acting in general); Melampus envisions the future of theatre (‘There’ll be a play about cats…. it’ll have no discernible plot, but it’ll be shockingly successful’); the gang discover the foreign concept of empathy (‘Your life is a chariot crash like mine!’) and we all do a tango with a bunch of geriatric men. Oh, and we also meet the world’s first ever theatre critic. It’s… not a flattering portrait. No comment.
Stuffed full with Greek puns (Oedipuspus as a cat name is nothing short of genius), pop culture references from 6/7 to Wicked and meta allusions to theatre, Thespians scores some Olympic-sized laughs throughout. But it’s not all κακά and giggles; there are some genuinely heartfelt moments in there too, and of course, no musical is complete without a good old fashioned love story.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a declaration of love as much as the next Notting Hill fan, but the moments where Thespians really had my heart singing were the quieter ones. From the casual, affectionate nicknames (‘Oh, Lampy’) that are woven into the script, to the gang’s undiscussed acceptance of varying gender expressions and sexualities, Thespians really does strike me as a love letter to theatre and friendship. From meeting at the Edinburgh Fringe 15 years ago to staging their first ever musical in 2026, the Mischief team have had as life-affirming a journey as any of their characters, and if Thespians is anything to go by, they clearly haven’t run out of puns yet. And honestly – thank Zeus for that. Thespians has left me wanting more.
Thespians is showing at Theatre Royal Bath until 30 May
