The Argonauts

Created in collaboration with Candoco Dance Company, The Argonauts is a re-imagining of the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece by a group of disabled and non-disabled performers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine.  

Crossing languages, genres and cultures they re-tell this story of heroic stupidity and doomed love, but their re-telling is interrupted by the more contemporary concerns of this particular cast.  Their stories of occupation, discrimination, injustice and joy, disrupt the well-trodden path of The Argonauts and we watch as they construct a new version of an old story in which the mythical and the mundane overlap.

A dark, funny and moving look at the effects of war, the temptation for revenge, and how we build our individual and national identities through the stories we tell. 

The result of a six year professional development programme led by Candoco in the Caucasus, this piece by Ben Duke of Lost Dog is an epic poem. The deft weaving of myth, political history and personal narrative is magic.

Charlotte Darbyshire, Artistic Director

A first iteration of The Argonauts was performed in 2019 in the Caucasus as part of a tour alongside performances from Candoco’s repertoire. Find out more about the six year programme that led to this work here.