Bapou's Bubbles

Blending live performance, installation and prison memoir, Costi invites audiences onto the set of Costi Corner, inspired by his dad’s caff on the A406, to question how art is made, shared and consumed.

Drawing on his Irish and Greek Cypriot heritage, the title combines the Greek word Παππού (Bapou), meaning ‘grandfather’, with Bubble, a nod to Cockney rhyming slang that playfully suggests both a Greek person and having a laugh.

Delivered with raw honesty, a cast of Costi’s fractured selves take the stage in a process of reckoning and repair. Presiding over the show is the Host, arrogant, performative and polished, striving to present himself as a respectable voice in the art world. In contrast, Bapou resists ideas of what a ‘proper’ artist should look or sound like. Guy, the Director, acts as a calm centre, trying to hold the chaos together, while Recall appears as a haunting projection of Costi’s possible future, hypervigilant, shaped by institutional surveillance. Alongside them, Mr. Fiddle personifies the contradictions of the criminal justice system, shifting between authority and reluctant conformity, while DJ Akademix, delivers a pulsing live soundtrack grounded in contemporary street culture.

Through humour, vulnerability and collaboration with performers, some of which have lived experience of the prison system, Bapou’s Bubbles confronts institutional harm, toxic masculinity and questions the legitimacy of the art world. Embracing the absurd, the work explores class, criminal justice reform, mental health and queer identity, offering a playful yet piercing vision of social change.

Content Warning: The performance contains explicit language, and references sexual violence and suicide.

Special Guests

Friday 30th January, Defining Masculinity

With childcare specialist Joss Cambridge-Simmons, artists Eve Stainton, and Adam Farah-Saad, this conversation examines how masculinity is shaped, challenged and renegotiated across personal, social and cultural contexts.

Saturday 31st January, Life During/After Prison

MP Lord Michael Hastings, Head of Mentoring and Outreach at Koestler Arts Sarah Matheve, and artist Gary Mansfield discuss the realities of imprisonment, the barriers to rebuilding one’s life after release, and the role of community, creativity and policy in supporting change.