Bapou's Bubbles

Blending live performance, installation and prison memoir, John Costi invites audiences to question how art is made, shared, and consumed.

Drawing on his Irish and Greek-Cypriot heritage, the title of the work combines the Greek word Παππού (Bapou) meaning ‘grandfather’, with Bubble, a nod to Cockney rhyming slang that playfully denotes 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. Set on Costi Corner —inspired by his dad’s caff on the A406, once dubbed ‘London’s dirtiest road’ —the Lancaster Rooms are transformed into an immersive, multidimensional environment: think Art Attack meets Brass Eye.

Through humour, vulnerability, and collaboration with performers with lived experience, Bapou’s Bubbles confronts institutional harm, toxic masculinity, and questions the legitimacy of the art world.

Embracing the absurd, the work navigates themes of class, criminal justice reform, mental health, and queer identity—offering a playful yet piercing reflection on what social change might look like.

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

Special Guests

Friday 30th January, Defining Masculinity

With childcare specialist Jossy ‘Manny’ Care, 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.