Here is an alternative take on ancient Greece that is not straight from the Trojan horse’s mouth but takes place in the belly of that beast instead. We find ourselves enlisted as soldiers for the audacious mission to infiltrate Troy, hidden inside the wooden steed in the company of Odysseus and other Greek heroes (but not Oedipus – it’s Mother’s Day). This is no time for cowardice, we’re told, and anyway there’s no escape because the horse is bolted.
Returning to the fringe after a run in 2023, Fishing 4 Chips’ production is told with lighthearted audience participation, aided by the convivial atmosphere of the Pleasance’s Queen Dome, which is a great room for comedy. Several cast members weave their way in character through the queue before the show has even begun. Lily-livered, wine-loving Echeon is fighting shy of battle and seeks our tips for safety before helping himself to the audience’s snacks. In a roundly well-acted production, he is played with big doofus energy by Sean Wareing, who co-wrote the script with Freddie Walker (channelling a John Cleese-ish frenzy as Odysseus).
The dialogue buzzes with puns, tongue-twisters and wordplay, occasionally over-explaining a gag or letting it run too long, and there is that hoary fringe staple of one character longing for a career in musical theatre. But underpinning the swords-and-sandals satire is a keen interest in how ancient Greece was run and the script has a democratic spirit too, as actors Molly Keogh, Alistair Rowley, Kathryn Pridgeon and Conor Joseph are also given a chance to shine.
With an appealingly efficient design by Lucy Sneddon, it inevitably invites comparison with Horrible Histories but the play is not overtly educational and instead requires a degree of prior knowledge for some jokes to land. The show is listed in the fringe programme’s theatre category, rather than with the children’s productions, but over-eights would enjoy the tomfoolery, anarchic spirit and vivid performances.
If it stumbles in the home straight, with a curiously flattened ending, Maya Shimmin’s production moves at an otherwise fast clip and makes for a fun hour-long odyssey.
• At Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh, until 25 August
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