ARGONAUTS Will Come to Edinburgh Fringe
Performances will run Friday 7th - Sunday 30th August 2026.
Argonauts will come to Edinburgh Fringe. Performances will run at ZOO (Playground 2), High School Yard, Edinburgh, EH1 1LZ Friday 7th - Sunday 30th August 2026 (not 10th, 17th, 24th), 18:05.
In this world premiere from Brazilian company Technis, Argonauts is a sharp, funny and devastating tragicomedy that holds a black mirror up to the words of the stage. Weaving sharp wit with myth, the play explores the clash between criticism and creation, reason and emotion, asking why theatre continues to matter in a chaotic world.
Liz and Sam host a theatre podcast while navigating the volatile landscape of contemporary arts criticism. When Sam champions a radical new production, Liz's outrage erupts before she has even seen it. As their argument spirals, reality begins to fracture, and the fury of Medea, the defiant truth of Antigone, the grieving wrath of Hecuba, the ruthless ambition of Goneril, and the magic of Prospero break into the present. These figures evolve from familiar references into bold contemporary reimaginings, becoming increasingly persistent eruptions from the subconscious of theatre itself.
Thiago Richter, writer and director, comments, "The play comes from a tension I live with every day: the urgent need to make theatre, right next to the feeling that I'm always about to give up on it. Our field is full of difficulties, but something keeps pulling us back: the indescribable, almost irrational sensation of being on stage. So with Argonauts, we wanted to explode the classical notion of dramaturgy without discarding it whatsoever, bringing the fragmentation and the debate inside the theatre's own stage. It's theatre talking about theatre, 'the play within the play', as Antunes Filho used to say, as we feel the only way to understand why we still do this is to actually do it in an artistic way, live, and in front of an audience."
Written and directed by Thiago Richter, whose work was selected for The Royal Court Theatre's Lusophone Callout, the production draws on techniques developed under the mentorship of Antunes Filho at Brazil's renowned Centro de Pesquisa Teatral (CPT). Reimagining the combustible premise of Yasmina Reza's Art for the digital age, Argonauts transforms a debate about artistic taste into a bold exploration of storytelling, conflict, and the enduring power of theatre. With distinctive theatrical language and rich artistic lineage, the show invites audiences to reflect on the nature of theatre, criticism, and storytelling.
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