Jake Mace
Andreas Constantinou is unveiling his performance art piece Champions at Edinburgh Festival Fringe later this month off the heel of success with last year’s piece MASS EFFECT. Champions sees Andreas seated silently before the audience, Constantinou allows recorded conversations with his parents and therapist to unveil layers of grief, rejection, and emotional turmoil. He aims to create an intense, reflective atmosphere that engages viewers ‘profoundly’. We caught up with Andreas for a pixelated pint to find out more about the show.
You can catch Champions from July 30th to August 16th (not the 13th) at Pentland Theatre at Pleasance at EICC from 20:30 (40mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Andreas! Your upcoming EdFringe show CHAMPIONS explores themes of family dynamics, identity, loneliness, and resilience – tell us about what inspired the show and how you’ve explored these themes on stage.
Andreas: Hi Jake, thanks for the question. The seed for Champions was planted back in early 2019. At the time, I was at the peak of my career—constantly touring, presenting, producing—but internally, I felt completely depleted. Despite everything aligning professionally, I was deeply unhappy. This led me to begin therapy, and in my very first session with Kristine Graugaard—who would later become a key part of the creative process—she asked the kinds of questions that cut straight to the core. It became clear that I had spent the past six years facilitating and creating for others—through productions, festivals, and community projects—but had completely stopped making work for myself, on my own body.
Something shifted for me after that first session. I proposed an experiment: over the course of a year, I would continue weekly therapy while also returning to the studio—alone—to create. I recorded each session (with Kristine’s consent), and what emerged was a back-and-forth between therapy and creative practice. I later invited my long-time friend and collaborator Dagmara Bilon into the process to help hold space in the studio, reflecting on what was coming up in therapy and channeling it into movement, voice, and performance.
Early on, I discovered how emotional stillness had become for me. Every time I sat or stood still, I would cry. A deep sadness would surface. I realised I had been a doer all my life—constantly making, producing, performing. Productivity had become my way of avoiding stillness, avoiding confronting old wounds and deeper truths. In that first six months, I generated enough material to make five or six full-length shows—comedy, dance, experimental pieces—churning out idea after idea. But I now understand that even that wave of creativity was, in part, another form of distraction. I was still trying to outrun being still.
Gradually, the work took me deeper into my personal history—especially my family relationships. For months, I avoided talking about my father. Just as I avoided stillness, I avoided that conversation. But eventually, it began to surface: the emotional abandonment I experienced around age 13, when my sexuality and identity started to emerge. As a child, he had been affectionate and involved. But as I began to grow into myself—gay, queer, expressive—that connection was severed. We lived under the same roof until I was 19 but barely spoke.
Champions became the space where I returned to that emotional arena. I challenged myself to stop running, to sit with what I had spent years avoiding. I recorded interviews with both of my parents—asking hard questions about our past, my identity, and their views. Those recordings, along with my therapy sessions and studio improvisations, formed the backbone of the show. I knew early on I wanted a set that felt like both a living room and a battleground—where silence, memory, love, and loss could collide.
Ultimately, Champions is a work about resilience—about sitting still long enough for the truth to catch up. It’s about facing pain not to fix it, but to witness it. To let it breathe. To stop running, and finally come home to myself.
Jake: Tell us about what the audience can expect coming into the show, and what they might not expect about the show.
Andreas: The audience can expect a work that is, above all, unabashedly honest and bare. Champions is emotionally raw in its content and highly refined in its aesthetic. It’s a deeply visual and sonic experience—combining fragmented interview recordings, evocative video projections, and an immersive, evolving soundscape.
It’s not a show built around entertainment; rather, it’s an invitation to spend a shared moment in something real. The piece is multi-layered and intimate, navigating complex themes like identity, family, rejection, and self-acceptance. While it draws from my own experiences—particularly around queerness and homophobia—I think the emotional terrain will resonate with anyone who’s ever felt the pressure to live up to a parent’s expectations, or struggled to be fully seen.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Andreas: I hope Champions offers something different to each person. For me, it’s a piece about presence and paying attention. I hope people leave thinking about how they listen, how they witness others—especially the ones closest to them.
If you’ve ever felt like your parents didn’t really see you, or if you’ve ever been afraid to show them who you truly are, this show might resonate. But it’s not just about queerness or family—it’s about the universal desire to be known and accepted. At its heart, it’s about what it means to really listen—to ourselves, to those around us, and to the people we come from. I hope audiences walk away reflecting on how we see each other, and how often we fail to.
Jake: With Edinburgh Fringe 2025 just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Andreas: Oooou the unexpected. The small intimate moments and good conversations with new people. The overall experience of being in a new environment. The new friends. New performances. New lived experiences. New lovers. New new new.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Andreas: If Champions were a beverage, it would be a sharp, concentrated shot of ginger, lemon, and cayenne. It’s not something you drink for pleasure—it’s something you feel. It wakes you up, clears your senses, and demands your attention.
There’s a sting to it, but it’s also cleansing—like truth. It doesn’t numb; it sharpens. Champions isn’t about escape or comfort, it’s about being present. It’s the kind of shot that makes you pause, breathe, and maybe see things a little differently afterwards.
A reminder, you can catch Champions from July 30th to August 16th (not the 13th) at Pentland Theatre at Pleasance at EICC from 20:30 (40mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Image Credit: Christoffer Brekne
Lamesha Ruddock
Jasmine Silk
