On Feb 22nd aod will be performing at the British Museum as part of Creative Responses to Troy at the British Museum. We will perform scenes from ancient Greek drama around the theme of Troy, with the acclaimed world music choir Vocal Explosion

Performances are free and take place in front of the Nereid monument are at 12pm, 1.25pm & 2.50pm

Please join us!

aod performed scenes from Trojan Women in the wonderful chapel at House of St Barnabas on 5th Feb, as part of our new Inner Circle gatherings hosted by Robert Garbett of Drone Major Group

Scenes were performed by Mark Katz, Tamsin Shasha and Kirsten Shaw to tie in with aod's Creative Responses to Troy at the British Museum on 22nd Feb

Here’s another bumper update from aod HQ, with July and August offerings to whet your whistle:

The Big Give Christmas Challenge

Thank you so much to everyone who pledged to our campaign - We are delighted to announce that we reached our pledge goal of £1795. We now hope to be selected by a match funder who will match this amount, meaning that we can raise even more money for aodEducation when the campaign goes live in December.

Workshops and education

We've enjoyed a flurry of workshop bookings since schools returned last week - Don’t forget to book our 2-hour workshops or longer Classics Days before they sell out!

We are still giving away our Greek drama workshops, and have a few left in Southwark - If you are a teacher based in Southwark, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to take advantage of this free offer.

Why not celebrate being back at school by purchasing our DVDs and educational resources - We sell DVDs from our productions of Antigone, Lysistrata, Medea and Oedipus, as well as books, audio CDs and essays. Take a look at our shop - http://www.actorsofdionysus.com/shop

We are currently working on a couple of exciting educational initiatives for 2020, and look forward to sharing more news soon!

What Charity competition

We recently won a year's premium membership to WhatCharity, a great new online platform which helps charities to find vital support, whether that be financial,
voluntary or by way of equipment. WhatCharity connects charities and philanthropists in the hope of nurturing new partnerships, which is fab.

We were featured in their recent blog which went out to thousands of supporters, meaning lots of publicity for aod: https://goodreads.whatcharity.com/announcing-our-latest-competition-winner/

Join us

There are many ways to become involved in aod and our work, and we are always happy to welcome new friends and supporters -

Become a Fod, Pod, Bod or God - Our annual supporters scheme offers a host of exciting rewards.

Become a trustee - Our board of trustees provide us with expert guidance and support across all areas of the charity.

Join our inner circle - Our inner circle of supporters share a vision for aod’s future and work closely with the artistic director and board of trustees toward a strategic policy of expansion, sustainability and longevity.

As a charity with no regular public funding, we rely on our supporters who help us to create exciting work which keeps Ancient Greek drama alive and accessible for modern audiences. If you would like to find out more about the work of the charity and think that you have the right qualities to join us, then please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Performances from our friends

Everything I See I Swallow

Our Artistic Director Tamsin and her co-performer Maisy enjoyed great success in Edinburgh with their aerial theatre show Everything I See I Swallow, which won 2 awards - The Scotsman’s prestigious Fringe First, and Broadway World's best circus/physical show. They are about to embark on an autumn tour, firstly visiting The Lowry, Square Chapel Arts Centre and Harlow Playhouse in September.

For more information about the show, and for tour dates, see their website at https://shashaandtaylor.wixsite.com/swallow/national-tour

Extraordinary Wall of Silence

Our friends at Ad Infinitum are premiering their new work in October:

Three coming-of-age stories, united in a struggle against violence, ignorance and oppression.

Helen, Alan, and Graham are told they are impaired and need fixing. Connecting through a shared past they are transported to one pivotal moment in 1880 when a dangerous ideology was born: one that would impair the way the world views Deaf people for over a century.

Ad Infinitum combines the company's signature style of physical storytelling with the beauty of British Sign Language in an unmissable feast for the senses.

Extraordinary Wall of Silence is a bilingual performance in BSL and English. The show will run for two weeks from 5th - 19th October at Bristol Old Vic.

For more information follow this link - https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/extraordinary-wall-of-silence

This is a bumper update from aod HQ this month, with May and June offerings to whet your whistle!

Workshops

Please SPREAD THE WORD about our educational workshops, which offer Key Stage 4 and 5 students high quality, fun and practical support in the field of Ancient Greek drama. Workshops are tailor-made to suit individual groups and are available to book across the country. We work with most Greek texts. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more details.

Don’t take our word for it, here is a testimonial about Mark’s recent workshop at Southam College on the 26th June:

"I could not recommend this workshop enough. Mark was enthusiastic and full of energy, motivating the students, while simultaneously scaffolding his approach to different students who needed varying degrees of care and support. He challenged them to push themselves but none of the students felt as though they were singled out or put on the spot.

His knowledge of Greek Theatre, the context at the time and the original performance conditions were fantastic. He ensured that he had familiarised himself with the specification we are studying so that he could better prepare himself and fully support our students. He knew the nature of the questions on the written papers and tailored his workshop to that focus. This was extremely beneficial to our students, who have struggled in the past connecting their own work to the original performances.

Mark was personable and charismatic, drawing the students in and creating an atmosphere of energy and enthusiasm. It was a pleasure to watch him work and all of our students were gushing afterwards at how much they had learnt and how much they had enjoyed it."

Jessica Ferguson

The Big Give

We are taking part in the 2019 Christmas Challenge, to raise funds for our free workshops. We are now asking for very kind pledgers to help us to reach our pledge goal of £1795. You have until the 30th of August to make a pledge online, and you can do that here. If you don’t already know about The Christmas Challenge, you can find out more about the campaign here.

Funding

We've just received £1000 from the Newcomen Collett Foundation to run a further 5 free workshops in Southwark, which is a fantastic result and we can’t wait to get started in the autumn term!

We are busy applying for funding to expand our outreach work - Plans include developing a series of drama and myth workshops for primary schools and developing our work with community groups and volunteers in Brighton. Watch this space for exciting developments!

Honorary Patron

We are excited to announce that Jane Asher has become an honorary patron of ours. Jane worked with aod on our fundraising event at the Reform Club in 2012, and we are really pleased to welcome her back to the fold. Jane is a well known public figure with an extensive acting CV and her affiliation with aod is fantastic. Jane joins our honorary patrons Sir Simon Russell Beale, Natalie Haynes and Bettany Hughes.

Join Us

There are many ways to become involved in aod and our work, and we are always happy to welcome friends and supporters -

Become a Fod, Pod, Bod or God - Our annual supporters' scheme offers a host of exciting rewards for supporters.

Become a trustee - Our board of trustees provide us with expert guidance and support across all areas of the charity.

Join our inner circle - Our inner circle of supporters share a vision for aod’s future and work closely with the artistic director and board of trustees toward a strategic policy of expansion, sustainability and longevity.

As a charity with no regular public funding, we rely on our supporters who help us to create exciting work which keeps Ancient Greek drama alive and accessible. If you would like to find out more about the work of the charity and think that you have the right qualities to join us, then please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

From Our Friends

You can catch our artistic director Tamsin’s aerial show Everything I See I Swallow at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Summerhall, 3-25th August) before it embarks on a short autumn tour. For more details and to book tickets, visit the website here.

Last Rehearsal
Supported by the British Council
Selected by English Touring Theatre

The Warren: The Blockhouse
Brighton Fringe Festival

Thurs 23, Fri 24, Sat 25 May
6:15pm

The actors arrive at the theatre to discover that their director has abandoned the play. So what now? Should they just forget about the play after all their hard work? Or should they stay calm and carry on? An explosive debate erupts among them. Will this crisis destroy their faith in art, or is this dangerous confrontation, in itself, their best work yet?

The Last Company are an ensemble of Latin American and
British artists.

Vibrant theatre which confronts us with ourselves!

Here’s a short April update about all things aod.

Funding
Megan and Mark have been cracking on with a range of funding applications, to continue our free workshop project or to test and grow new approaches to aodEducation and our community work.

aodEducation

We are nearing the end of our current free workshop quota. Thank you to Mark and Will for their consistently energetic and inspiring work - Mark is soon heading to Wandsworth for an Antigone workshop with Year 13 students, which will help with exam prep.

Don’t forget our tailor made workshops and Classics Days, which are available to book all year round - For more info go to our aodEducation page.

Savage Beauty

Megan and Tamsin met with a couple of Brighton based gardening groups (Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Friends of Queens Park) to chat about our plans for Savage Beauty in 2020 - We look forward to continuing conversations as the project develops.

Stay tuned for a May update!

Here’s a March update, brought to you by aod HQ.

New website

We have almost finished edits for the new aod website, which we will be launching soon. We look forward to bringing you an updated production archive and a new look. Thanks to Drone Major Group for supporting us with this project.

Mark at Turing House School, March 2019

aodEducation

Mark has been busy running lots of free workshops for aod. Here is some recent feedback which is really encouraging and makes us so happy to be able to run the project.

"Absolutely fantastic. Mark was really engaging, knowledgeable and encouraging – he was just perfect. It has really enhanced their study of the play and I am so appreciative. I hope that we can work with you again."

Judith Parker, Sacred Heart High School

We are applying for funding to continue the project into autumn 2019, so watch this space for more workshops coming your way!

Can’t wait until autumn?!

Don’t forget our Classics Days, which are now available to book - For more info go to our Classics Days page.

2020

We are busy working on an exciting proposal for the 2020 Brighton Fringe, which fuses modern takes on ancient myths with a community choir and gardening workshops, to create a special production which connects communities in Brighton with epic stories in an outdoor environment.

Also for 2020, we are planning an autumn re-mount of our dystopian Antigone, which toured nationally in 2017. Watch the trailer

Watch this space for more announcements!

“Actors of Dionysus' crisp new production cleverly maintains the heart and soul of Sophocles’ tragedy, whilst bringing it an exciting, relevant edge.”

Charlotte Wallis, Cue Charlotte
Read the full review here

Stay tuned for our April update, coming soon.

Wowee, it’s March already!

aodEducation

Mark, Tamsin and David Stuttard were busy in February with a programme of aod workshops, which included a special Classics Day at Notting Hill and Ealing High School, some Scotland-based classical workshops and a really fun workshop/panel discussion at Kings College London as part of their Greek Play Day.

Megan took trips to see KCL's Antigone and UCL's Oedipus Rex - KCL's female Creon made for a bold spin on the play, and the chorus of newsreaders were great.

We wanted to share this testimonial from a KCL workshop participant which we think encapsulates the great work that aodEducation does:

"As a complete beginner in the world of acting and performance studies, I approached Tamsin’s workshop with intense nerves and anticipation.
However, Tamsin’s clear and concise directions carried me through all the exercises without worry and I felt completely immersed in the experience.
For a blissful hour and a half, I forgot all my worries and now feel inspired to consider drama and theatre studies as a degree option."

11 by 11

Megan is working with Islington Council on their 11 by 11 scheme, which offers schools in Islington a programme of free creative and cultural activities - aod are participating by running a Greek drama workshop during the summer term.

November 2019 Event

SAVE THE DATE - 14th November 2019 - for the next aodEvent, which will take place at the Athenaeum Club in Pall Mall. More details to follow - Watch this space!

aodEducation

We kick-started 2019 off in style with a number of drama workshops and specially curated Classics Days; Tamsin Shasha, Mark Katz and David Stuttard descended on to Manchester to run a day-long workshop at Withington Girl's School on the 23rd January, where they worked with students offering a variety of imaginative workshops and presentations which focussed on ancient texts such as Trojan Women and Antigone. To book a Classics Day or drama workshop for your students contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Our free Greek drama resource page launched in mid-January with a collection of Antigone resources designed for practical teaching and learning support. Watch this space for Lysistrata and Oedipus resources, coming soon! We are regularly updating the page; to request a specific resource, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Our free workshop campaign is still going strong and to date we have given away 30 free drama and classics workshops to state school/college students in London and East Sussex. This project has been made possible by funding from our supporters, the Four Acre Trust and the Classical Association. 

Become a Friend of Dionysus

Our supporters scheme is even bigger and better for 2019, with more rewards on offer for supporters. Members can join at any point in the calendar year, and select from a range of membership options. Interesting in joining the fold? More information can be found here: http://www.actorsofdionysus.com/support-us/become-a-friend-patron-or-benefactor

From Our Friends

• Our friends at Ad Infinitum are touring with No Kids, which kicked off at Battersea Arts Centre, and follows at venues including Tobacco Factory Theatres, Corn Exchange Newbury and The Lowry. For full tour dates click here.
• Our friends at Classics for All are offering Key Stage 2 teachers a free taster session on the 28th February at Brentwood School to discuss the value of Classics Education. Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity! You can sign up here.

Our February catch up is coming soon!

Great funding result

We started December off on a real high by successfully winning £5,000 from the Chalk Cliff Trust and we are over the moon about this result! We thank the trust for their generous support for East Sussex based small charities.

Become a Friend of Dionysus!

Our supporters scheme is back, and it’s even bigger and better for 2019, with more rewards on offer for supporters. Members can join at any point in the calendar year, and select from a range of membership options. Interesting in joining the fold? More information can be found here: http://www.actorsofdionysus.com/support-us/become-a-friend-patron-or-benefactor

An aod drama workshop in action, led by Tamsin Shasha

 Resource page

Keep an eye out for the launch of our free drama resource page! The project is supported by the Classical Association and the Jowett Copyright Trust and will offer practical teaching and learning resources which draw from our 25 years of work in education.

Lysistrata at our 2018 fundraiser. © Patrick Dodds

 Annual fundraiser

Watch this space for news of our 2019 summer fundraiser - This year we are working on a slightly different programme for the event and we are excited to share details with you soon.

Give as You Live

Looking to escape cold January with a hot holiday? Sign up to Give as You Live and donate to Actors of Dionysus when you shop online for purchases like holidays, at no extra cost to you. Signing up is free and simple to do. All donations are very gratefully received by aod, and because it costs you nothing, it really is a win win! You can sign up here.

© The Other Richard

Everything I See I Swallow, 2019

Tamsin and Maisy are working on plans for an Edinburgh Festival Fringe run of the show and subsequent tour…Watch this space for some really exciting announcements! For more information about the show which is a beautiful and raw examination of a mother daughter relationship amongst shifting attitudes to feminism, click here.

Our January catch up is coming soon!

We are very sad to hear about the death of Thea Nerissa - Barnes, who worked with us on our production of Medea in 2001.

Thea was a fantastic artist, choreographer and mentor who worked with us to produce a version of Medea that was physical, powerful and exciting, and her choreographic contribution to the piece will always resonate with us. She also worked on our production of Antigone the subsequent year. 

She was, amongst other great roles, former Artistic Director of the brilliant Phoenix Dance Company. 

Her loss will be felt by all in the dance community and we extend our condolences to her friends and family at this sad time.

Performance lecture

We had a great time in Oxford on the 12th November at the APGRD, where we took a trip down memory lane with David Stuttard and a very welcoming audience. The evening included wine, nibbles and performances from aod's repertoire, plus an interactive taster of one of our educational workshops, which went down really well.

Megan received a number of requests to join aod's mailing list after the event, as well as a Fod (friend of dionysus) request, and we are thankful to the APGRD for hosting us and for supporting and sharing our work.

25th birthday party

We kicked off our 25th year in style, celebrating high up in the sky in Canary Wharf with many friends, supporters and colleagues - past and present. Check out our previous party post for more  pics.

Free DVD!

CALLING ALL TEACHERS… Book one of our tailor-made workshops for your students and receive a free DVD of our 2017 production of Antigone - Two fabulous learning resources in one package and perfect for exam preparation! We only have one or two DVDs left to give away, so take advantage and book a workshop for the new year - Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Workshops

Thank you to Mark and Will, our amazing workshop leaders, for running awesome drama workshops over the past couple of months. Both have received glowing feedback from teachers, and we are really pleased that our free workshop campaign in London and East Sussex has been so popular. All free workshops are now booked up, but watch this space for news of future campaigns!

Resource page

We are launching a resource page in early 2019, and students and teachers worldwide will be able to visit and download a selection of free educational resources which will help with their learning of Greek drama. Resources will be uploaded by us on a frequent basis, and will span our 25 years of work. Watch this space for more details!

Give as You Live

In the run up to Christmas please sign up to Give as You Live and donate to Actors of Dionysus when you shop online, at no extra cost to you. Signing up is free and easy to do. All donations are very gratefully received by aod, and because it costs you nothing, it really is a win win! You can sign up here.

Drone Major Group

We want to thank Drone Major Group for supporting our birthday party auction with a state of the art done, complete with a professional flying lesson to boot. Drone Major is the world’s first company to provide specialist services to buyers of drones and drone related equipment, including advice and strategic consultancy to enable buyers to navigate the widening applications for drone technology. You must check them out! https://dronemajor.net

In other news

• Tamsin attended the NCVO's AGM on the 19th November which was a delightful and informative event and we wholeheartedly support their great work
• Tamsin attended Pitch Up in Brighton on the 20th November, a fantastic networking event for companies and venues, bringing them together over informal conversations about new pieces of work. Tamsin was able to have conversations with a range of venues about our work which is really exciting
• Megan attended By Jove Theatre's birthday celebrations on the 30th November at the lovely Sunshine Cafe Arts near Brixton. We love By Jove Theatre and Megan really enjoyed their evening of performance, especially the amazing solo piece Here She Comes which was an incredibly exciting epic poem based on The Bacchae. Watch out for their work!

We’ll be back in the new year with a December catch up!

Thank you to everyone who joined us to celebrate our 25th birthday earlier in November!

In the fine spirit of Dionysus, wine and prosecco graced the evening as guests enjoyed a host of performances from some of our repertoire of works which included Lysistrata and Electra. A lovely collection of Sappho poetry, read by aod collaborators past and present, topped the evening off brilliantly.

Chair of our board, Robert Garbett, ran a fabulous auction and raffle, and we want to say a big thank you to our raffle and auction prize donors for their generosity, as well as to everyone who bought a raffle ticket and bid on a prize.

We extend a very big thanks to our many valued supporters, donors and friends who have supported us through to the ripe old age of 25, without whom we wouldn’t exist.

HERE’S TO THE NEXT 25 YEARS!

Tour booking workshop

Megan attended a fantastic tour booking workshop at the Albany Theatre in early October, run by the fantastic Mark Makin - The day long workshop focussed on all aspects of tour booking, and Megan looks forward to putting what she learnt in to practice soon. We highly recommend this workshop! For more info and to book, visit the Independent Theatre Council’s website.

Metamorphosis festival

Megan attended the Metamorphosis festival in early October, hosted by the Architecture Foundation - Taking place at the beautiful Old Royal Naval College and Queen’s House in Greenwich, this day long festival featured an array of lectures and performances around the theme of classical currents in contemporary culture. The festival fantastically celebrated the legacy of the ancient Greeks and Romans by connecting it with innovative work being created today, and Blake Morrision’s lecture which featured performances from his versions of Lysistrata and Antigone was of particular brilliance.

Aviva Community Fund

Please vote for our community project, to run free vocal and drama workshops for community choirs and state schools in Caterham, Brighton and Didcot. Your votes will make such a difference to the project, helping us to go through to the second round of the contest, to be judged by a panel of experts, who will fund the winning projects. Voting is totally free and takes less than a minute, and you can vote here. Voting closes on the 20th November.

You can also donate to the cause on Crowdfunder, in return for some awesome rewards. If you’d like to donate, whatever money you can spare will be greatly received. Donations will go toward ensuring that we keep the Classics alive and accessible for all, in theatres, in schools and beyond. You can donate here.

Image from Medea at Rose Theatre Kingston, 2013

Support for Medea

We are always interested in developing new relationships and talking about collaborations for this exciting show, which features wall running, aerial dance and an ambitious new participatory arm which involves community choirs taking on the Greek chorus - For commissioning, programming or booking enquires contact Megan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Workshop and free DVD offer

CALLING ALL TEACHERS… Book one of our tailor-made workshops for your students and receive a free DVD of our 2017 production of Antigone - Two fabulous learning resources in one package and perfect for exam preparation! We only have a few DVDs left to give away, so take advantage and book a workshop today - Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Give as You Live

Thank you to our kind supporters who have already raised £2.13 for Actors of Dionysus! Sign up to Give as You Live and donate to Actors of Dionysus when you shop online, at no extra cost to you. Signing up is free and easy to do. All donations are very gratefully received, and because it costs you nothing, it’s a win win! You can sign up here.

Atlantic Big Wall Vertical Dance

Tamsin had an amazing time in Lisbon at the end of October, participating on the Atlantic Big Wall Vertical Dance. Some great wall play was had in the sun (and the rain, including hailstones for good measure!) and we can’t wait to get back in to the studio to work with what we’ve learnt, applying it to Medea.

It’s All Greek

Looking for a special classical gift for Christmas? Our friends at It’s All Greek provide an exciting array of fine replicas of ancient Greek art - Bronze, marble, pottery, ceramics and jewellery, all under one aegis, and all from the best suppliers in Greece and in the UK. We thoroughly recommend the store for its charming items which make beautiful and very individual gifts. To shop online, click here.

We’ll be back soon with a November catch up!