Review by Markus Hamence – Cyclops: A Satyr Play – Performance date: Friday 27 February 2026. Holden Street Theatres, Hindmarsh, South Australia
Okay, you know there’s something wildly liberating about watching ancient mythology completely lose control of itself – and Cyclops: A Satyr Play at the 2026 Adelaide Fringe gets hell-deep into that chaos with glorious, wine-spilled abandon.
Playing at Judy’s at Holden Street Theatres, this Australian premiere from Canada’s Panic Theatre takes Euripides’ only surviving satyr play and gleefully drags it through a neon-lit, late-night existential afterparty, complete with glo-sticks, drawn on moustaches, booze AND a giant pink dildo. What emerges is less classical theatre and more mythological meltdown – part storytelling ritual, part queer club night, part emotional hangover you didn’t see coming.
The premise alone sets the tone. A deeply intoxicated Satyr attempts to retell The Odyssey while navigating BIG ‘main character’ karaoke energy, questionable decisions, audience interaction (a lot, but don’t let that scare you off, it’s fun) and the eternal question of whether we feed the monster or save the stranger. It sounds unhinged, it’s radically bonkers, you walk out thinking ‘What the freak was that about?!’ – and that’s exactly the point kids.
This is mythology rewritten through modern anxiety, sexuality, identity and connection. The performer (the talented Griffin Hewitt) commands the intimate room with fearless and confident physicality, bouncing between comedy, confession and confrontation. One minute you’re laughing at absurd goat-man philosophy, the next you’re unexpectedly reflecting on loneliness, desire and the messy human instinct to survive the night before.
“What makes Cyclops land so strongly, and then begs at your feet for a panadol, is its refusal to behave like traditional theatre…”
Markus Hamence
What makes Cyclops land so strongly, and then begs at your feet for a panadol, is its refusal to behave like traditional theatre. The fourth wall doesn’t just disappear – it never existed. The audience becomes accomplice, chorus and sometimes moral compass, pulled directly into the Satyr’s spiralling logic. It’s immersive without being forced, playful without losing emotional bite.
There’s also a raw honesty underneath the techno-pop absurdity. Beneath the glitter and debauchery sits a clever exploration of choice, consequence and indulgence – reminding us that Greek myths were never polite stories to begin with. They were chaotic, sensual and deeply human. This production restores that energy with unapologetic confidence.
Visually stripped back yet atmospherically charged, the intimacy of Holden Street Theatres works perfectly, allowing every raised eyebrow, drunken revelation and philosophical tangent to hit at close range.
Cyclops: A Satyr Play feels like stumbling into a myth retold at 2am by someone brilliant, reckless and strangely wise (We’ve all been there, don’t deny it haha). Bold, queer, funny and unpredictably heartfelt, it proves that even stories thousands of years old can still party – and still ask uncomfortable questions the morning after.
A deliriously smart Fringe experience that celebrates theatre at its most mischievous and alive.
Cyclops: A Satyr Play
Tuesday 24 February – Sunday 22 March 2026
Judy’s at HST at Holden Street Theatres
Tickets
