Grooving with the Oldies

Like The Krankies, the Greeks Gods have seen better days, but can still turn on those slick vaudeville moves. Now in a reduced line-up – only Zeus, Persephone, Athena and Hades remain from the classic line-up, with former bit-part player Cupid and the glamorous Medusa making up the numbers – their cabaret-style reunion has flashes of their former world-beating power and passion, but an undertow of melancholy is visible even when they breath new life into tested routines.

Cupid, once the child-star and now the compere, admits that he has lost his mojo: substituting a gun for the iconic bow and arrow, he puts the veterans through their paces. Zeus, the original matinee idol with a string of paternity suits to shame Dave Lee Roth, plays the elder statesman, even though he has been reduced to a mere head. Meanwhile, the eternal romance of Persephone and Hades is starting to show the cracks: there is a sense that he is more interested in Medusa than the woman he once caused Winter for.

While their early productions focusses on metaphysics – and the occasional foray into thrilling adventures, this come-back both acknowledges the financial pressures that encouraged a return to the stage and sends up the economic crisis. Hades is sold to China (and apparently comes back ready to be trained for Sumo), Cupid is pretty blunt about why they are touring again: and the pressures of maintaining a two thousand year old back-catalogue lead them to experiment with new versions of the favourites. Whether Medusa’s transformation into the ugly gorgon has become too familiar, or Hades’ image as a moribund fatalist is ripe for reinvention, these gods are ready to spice them up with variations. Medusa, in particular, adds a sensual edge, while both Athena and Cupid can still hoof with the best of them.

Equally tragic and witty, Bestaires proves that there is more to the Gods than mere nostalgia and after comic mayhem that would impress the Chuckle Brothers, Hades’ return from China is a set-piece that captures in a repeated series of movements, both the futility and the courage of a veteran pantheon trying to get up for one more dance with fate.