Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Delphi: The Musical
Theatre Movement Bazaar
Genre: Movement, Musical Theatre, New Writing, Theatre
Venue: Bedlam Theatre
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Theatre Movement Bazaar returns with a modern Ancient Greek musical comedy set backstage at the Oracle of Delphi. Once the preeminent oracle, Delphi has lost patronage and needs money. Hope arrives with Imperial Secretaries from Rome, but the nefarious plans of the authoritarian Emperor throw the existence of the Oracle, and its retinue, into question. Will Delphi’s team bend the knee? Will loyalties fracture as fame and fortune beckon? Singing, dancing and mysterious vapours tell all. From the award-winning creators of Tiny Little Town. ‘The gold standard in wry literary remakes’ (LA Times).
Review
What do you do when you’re the highest profile, ageless, prognosticating Temple of Apollo and the Romans are asking you to ring the changes? Theatre Movement Bazaar’s new show Delphi: The Musical takes place behind the scenes at the temple of Delphi, where the workers include the overworked and frazzled High Priest, the star of the show Pythoness who delivers Apollo’s wisdom, the more pragmatic and modern-minded Sophie (of course she is called Sophie), and a cast of plumbers and architects. Together, the team contemplates the cracks in the temple door and the dwindling numbers of punters in recent times. Impetus for change arrives with news that the Roman Emperor is on his way. Rome is rather more “procedural” in matters of divination than the Temple of Delphi is used to and the stage is set for themes of change, dreams, and how (and whether) to resist empire and commerce.
Three lots of lantern-style columns provide the set dressing and our show begins in a brief and smiling silence and darkness before a song. Here is a sophisticated, simple set-up of musical style to match the temple’s timelessness. From the opening group number telling us Apollo is their main guy (and why), rocky instructions to bend the knee to the emperor or getting funky in the face of disaster, an Arabian belly-dancing influenced number about performance to a poignant and bluesy love song later on, all interspersed with Greek style music motifs along the way, this show has great style and a lot of playfulness. By the time a musical number about switching to a chicken divination method for telling the future arrives this reviewer is beaming broadly. There is lovely attention to the ancient Greek world in music choices and in elements like the casting of plumbers and architects, reminding the audience of remaining gifts from this ancient world. Concepts like the vapours of Delphi are demonstrated lightly and delightfully with bubbles.
Delphi is peppered with funny asides, whether a joke about how to make best use of a laurel bush, a hasty rethink on greeting the Romans given what happened with the crucifixion, or the local soothsayer Theo’s lack of real insight. The score is a delight, inflecting jazz, rock, blues, rap, and funk through its classical musical repertoire. The biggest reason to see Theatre Movement Bazaar however is to see group choreography made seamless, they move with an easy fluidity that you could watch all day. There is truly great movement and rhythm here. I saw the show, commented on the dance, and was then informed that physical action is the company’s foundation and focus. This was the first performance in Edinburgh, lighting and sound were still being worked out and the cast and crew not long off a plane. The level of polish and detail embedded in the choreography carries this cast through any waylaying circumstances. There is confidence in their content, the performers were unmiked in the performance I saw. I expect the sound mix to change over the month but in a Fringe land of very loud sound systems this trust in the power of their voices on stage is so welcome.
Theatre Movement Bazaar works with classic texts into musical comedy form, adapting the works of Chekhov and Gogol (earning awards and Must See show reviews from FringeReview along the way) before moving onto the world of Ancient Greece. The setting of the Temple of Delphi is a chance to tell a story about teamwork and family, incoming empire and outgoing civilisations, consumerism, propaganda, magic, migration, stepping into your power, and love and hope (perhaps against reason).
After the opening number, there is potential for the cast of characters and their present situation to be introduced and elucidated more quickly for the audience. A musical about waiting, about “perhaps”, about wondering whether to change and how, will always be prone to dropping pace and energy. The show would benefit from close attention to this, to move with more precision between the moments of action and reflection. A story that includes contemplation, indecision, what happens to a group when each individual has different ideas about how to respond to sweeping change is so worth telling. A musical that makes space for quiet moments, that hangs on to subtlety and resists showiness itself (while having its oracle resist it) is a very clever thing. A “club med” theme comes in with the Romans that undercuts this slightly. It feels too obvious in its sending up of commercialisation within the tone of this musical. The potential the oracle brings for exploring portents of the future is a delicious concept and loses out slightly as competing themes of empire, migration and the show going on despite everything take centre stage by the end.
A lot of big themes are worn lightly and joyfully here in this poised and fresh show. If you felt Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey unsubtle and noisy, come spend time at Delphi and leave light on your feet.
