Trailer released for BLOODSPORT: AFTER HELEN OF TROY

Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy is written by Ava Pickett, whose award-winning debut historical play 1536 delighted and enchanted audiences at the Almeida Theatre, and who is co-writing a film about Joan of Arc with Baz Luhrmann. Artistic Director Lisa Spirling (The Boys Are Kissing, In Event of Moone Disaster) makes her directorial debut at Stratford East with this fierce new play.

What happens when the woman who started a war comes home to finish it? In this modern-day retelling of the story of Helen of Troy, the woman whose incomparable beauty set off the Trojan War, Helen returns home years after walking out on her family, in the aftermath of a war fought in her name. Her husband is celebrating, but her best friend Cee is less convinced. Over the course of this first fragile night of peace time, wounds reopen, loyalties fracture, and the true cost of a woman's choice to leave her life is made clear.

In the trailer, which you can watch below, we can see how Pickett's writing blends epic Greek tragedy with a modern-day Essex setting, and promises to subvert everything we think we know about this familiar story. "For the architect of this apocalypse is not the work of a god," we're told, "but of a woman."

This new original play stars Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) as Helen alongside Laura Aikman (Gavin & Stacey) as Cee, alongside Olivier Award-winner Maimuna Memon as Dani, Gerard Monaco as Mario, Ethan Moorhouse as Messenger, Emma Monnickendam as Hermione, Jay Taylor as Marcus, Ellie Turner as Woman and Joshua-Alexander Williams as Luke. You can see the cast in rehearsals in the photos further down.

Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy will run at Stratford East from 3 September 2026, with a Press Night on 10 September.

Trailer

Rehearsal Photos

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Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy Tickets