We sat down with Athena to talk about her debut show, Londongrad, a darkly comic political satire that offers an absurdist critique of our current political landscape.
What compelled you to approach today’s political chaos through the lens of absurdist satire rather than traditional drama or comedy?
I am deeply obsessed with The Thick Of It, and in researching Armando Iannauci’s work and career, I noticed that he said that the age of satire was dead. He said this in around 2016, when politics began to get notably crazy, which was also when I was 16 and becoming politically aware. For years, I agreed with him and thought that modern politics was too ridiculous to ever truly satirise. However, I realised that leaning into its ridiculousness, its ever-increasing absurdism was in itself a form of satire. So it was the nature of politics in the 2020s that necessitated absurdism.
It’s impossible to do the slick, hyperrealistic but also ridiculous satire seen in The Thick Of It. When you watch The Thick Of It, you think – god is this what Westminster is really like? If you watch Londongrad, you think god I really really hope Westminster is not like this. But the horrible thing is, it probably is. Maybe not as silly, but definitely elements of truth.
How do you balance the urgency of political critique with the play’s fast-paced, comedic tone without undermining its message?
The comedic tone and fast paced nature if anything enhances the message – I think comedy is the most powerful thing for demonstrating the absurdity of our current political world. It’s easy to be doom and gloom and say “oh no the world is ending, governments don’t care, and we are all gonna die” but everyone, especially from Gen Z already thinks that, so it’s not exactly a powerful message. If you say “oh no the world is ending, governments don’t care and we are all gonna die, look how absurdly ridiculous it is” people can process it in a far more meaningful way. At this point in the 2020s, we are completely desensitised to ridiculous political scandals and narratives. Londongrad leans into this desensitisation by taking real-life spin narratives and putting them in the context of three self-serving, idiot politicians to demonstrate just how ridiculously stupid and corrupt the whole system has become. By exaggerating their incompetence and self-interest, Londongrad doesn’t just parody politics—it mirrors it so closely that the line between satire and reality becomes uncomfortably thin. That tension is what makes the comedy land so hard: it’s not just funny, it’s recognisably true. In laughing, the audience is forced to confront the absurdity they’ve already accepted as normal, which, ironically, might be the only way to shake them out of apathy.
In what ways did Gen Z perspectives shape the characters, themes, or humor in Londongrad?
I think its mostly the feeling of political disillusionment that drives all of the above, and that is an inherently Gen Z perspective. Having become politicised in the age of ridiculous politics, the characters in Londongrad are an exaggerated version of my perspective on politicians and government. I also love a good meme, so all of the political memes of the last 10 years (Jeremy Corbyn high fiving Emily Thornberry’s tit being my favourite), have made an appearance in Londongrad. I watched a million different political meme compilations on Youtube and Instagram and put as many of the iconic memes in as I could – that is also inherently Gen Z.
How do you hope audiences will interpret the depiction of power and performance in modern politics after watching the play?
I hope people see spin for what it is. Without ruining any jokes or scenes in Londongrad, the narrative coming from the Labour government in refusing to label what’s happening in Palestine as ‘genocide’, is today’s most prevalent example of political doublethink and spin. Despite what is seemingly obvious to most of the world, the government are desperate to preserve their image to Labour party voters (insert strongly worded letter to Israel from David Lammy), without taking any concrete actions to actually change what the Israeli government is doing. For me this is the perfect example of power and performance – Labour wish to preserve the power the Israeli/US establishment bestows upon them, while performing to its voters that it cares about our concerns. While this is just one element of Londongrad, it is for me, the most important. My aim is to demonstrate the ludicrousness of spin; to encourage critical thinking, and to highlight the consistent brazen lies coming from every political establishment. They’re all the same.
What was the most challenging aspect of turning real-world political absurdities into a cohesive and engaging narrative?
Keeping up with the changes in politics! I wrote the first draft of Londongrad in November – a lot has changed since then. I’ve had to cut jokes that are no longer relevant, I’ve had to change jokes to fit changing political conditions, I’ve had to come up with new jokes (world war 3 being the hardest), to match ever changing geopolitical situations. I’ve had to stop now because we are in rehearsals and I can’t keep adding or taking away jokes, but my biggest worry is that it won’t be relevant enough by the end of July! Also, for any future iterations of Londongrad, I’m going to have to change it again! Nightmare. Joking, it’s really fun.
How does Londongrad navigate the line between mocking authoritarian figures and provoking deeper questions about complicity and resistance?
I don’t really believe there is a line. By mocking authoritarian figures, you are already in the resistance camp. That is, of course, not enough resistance to actually change anything tangible. Just talking and satirising something doesn’t change anything, that is why I’m donating a percentage of my profits to London for Palestine and Palestine Medical Aid. I am also making the 5 nights of the show into a fundraiser and asking the audience to donate as well. Theatre and art is a highly useful tool for demonstrating frustrations, bringing people onside, and alleviating our feelings of uselessness and disillusionment by making us feel like we are doing something. However, this is inherently from a place of privilege – we can sit in a theatre and laugh at our stupid politicians and governments, but people are being murdered and theatre doesn’t change that. By asking the audience to do something tangible – donate to activist groups and to charities – Londongrad is actively asking the audience to participate in resistance. With Labour labelling London for Palestine as a terrorist group, Londongrad is asking its audience to associate with ‘terrorists’. That is real resistance.
Tickets are available now
https://camdenfringe.com/events/londongrad/