Aesop’s Fable

Legend has it that Aesop was an ugly, physically deformed slave of African origin who won his freedom through his wit and imagination.

The play opens with a physically disabled, abandoned child telling poorly crafted stories for money on the streets of Delphi. He falls victim to a scam artist and is arrested. A brutish jailer, Nikos, takes the boy as his slave.

Aesop, now the ambassador of the King of Samos, is subsequently imprisoned in Delphi, awaiting execution for telling the people what he truly thinks of their kingdom.

Aesop engages the jailer and the boy with fables – portrayed by an ensemble of lions, monkeys, fox, bears, etc. – demonstrating the path to freedom through the power of imagination.