I blame the parents.

Here’s Zeus, not a nice guy on the whole, what with all the impregnating, cannibalism and calculated violence. But do have some sympathy for an oft-misunderstood god. Here’s a bloke who was abandoned on Crete by his mother in order to escape being eaten by his own father. What can you expect?

Those sins of the father millennia ago lead us inexorably to the Exeter Northcott this month at the start of a UK tour for Devon-based company Le Navet Bete. And what a raucous night it is.

We open on an adult-baby – think Donald Trump in a nappy - suckling on a man dressed as a woman who is a goddess without the looks.

And the goddess and baby together with another god – for if nothing else Oh Zeus! ODs on gods – form just three of around 30 characters played by this long-established three-strong cast.

For more than 20 years, Le Navet Bete’s principals, Al Dunn Matt Freeman and Nick Bunt have multi-roled their own shows based on classic stories. And they don’t come more classical than the gods of ancient Greece.

So this clash of the Titans caper takes us through the madcap world of the gods, based in twenty-first century pop culture. Boring Greggs Hebe is set to marry Zeus’s daughter Gebe, to give us the Hebe Gebes. Gebe’s mother is fine with that. Zeus is livid, to the point he fakes his own death in Greggs’ hotel – and is thwarted multiple time by porter Moussaka, who out-Manuel’s Manuel.

Later, with Gregg killed on Zeus’ instructions, rescinded too late, by Gebe’s brother, the god of war Ares, we venture into the underworld to revive his soul.

It’s all completely potty.

As it is imaginative, farcical and sublime, while being executed with a comedic precision that excels even Le Navet Bete’s own scrupulous standards.

Oh Zeus! is tightly scripted from substantially improvised material by the cast and writer John Nicholson, and impressively constructed through set design, props, costumes and theatrical trickery.

And it’s family friendly, except for a handful of performances which aren’t. These three clowns could out-do the Marx Brothers, not that many in the audience would remember them.

Devon should be proud of a quality theatre company such as Le Navet Bete, and whilst the Northcott is just about the company’s HQ, this is a show that deserves a large venue in the county too. Whilst the show tours for the rest of 2026 before the trio return to the Northcott for panto season, the closest they come with Oh Zeus! is the intimate Minack at Porthcurno in June and the Lighthouse in September. This is a show worth travelling for. But with a deserved high reputation and a hit new show, tickets will be in demand.