Star rating: ***
An epic tale presented on a tiny stage, the latest offering in lunchtime series A Play, A Pie and A Pint feels more like a taster or work in progress than most. Director Cora Bissett does what she can with limited resources, but the rough edges prove distracting.
Chris Dolan's take on Greek mythology sees gods and goddesses cast as beautiful American celebrities who are at once worshipped and resented by the likes of the unfortunate eponymous character, who is thrown off Olympus for being insufficiently beautiful.
Banished to the land of mortals, Hephaistos becomes a highly skilled blacksmith and, when Aphrodite is sent by Zeus to join him, the pair forge a bond despite their differences (she's physically perfect and perfectly vacuous; he has too much hair and bad teeth but knows a thing or two about metals).
It's a neat premise and smart one-liners pepper the script and song lyrics, but key developments are rushed and there's little real tension, given that one character (Keith Fleming's fire-starter Prometheus) is in danger of being eaten alive by vultures throughout most of the play's 45-minute duration.
A substantial chorus is crammed into a corner of the stage, and two actors appear only on video, leading to timing problems and awkward shifts in style.
Despite all this, there's a real spark to Dolan's central idea, and James Cunningham throws himself - figuratively as well as literally, as it happens - into the role of Hephaistos. While there's logic to having Zeus and Hera appear via screens, seeing John Kazek and Sally Howitt expand on their turns in the flesh would have been more entertaining.
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