Athens theatre evenings compared

Three formats, one city

Each of these evenings is a different way to meet Greek stories. One puts the stories at your dinner table, one puts them on a small terrace stage, and one compresses a famous epic into an hour and a quarter. All are in English, all have free cancellation up to 24 hours before on the tickets we link to, and all are bookable by date. They differ in length, in whether there is a meal and in who they suit best. The table on the home page sets out the headline comparison, and this guide adds the detail.

Around Greece in 5 Dishes: the meal as theatre

This is the longest of the three, at about two hours. You eat five regional dishes, each with a wine or spirit pairing, while professional actors and folk musicians tell the stories of the regions the food comes from. It is indoors, on the first floor of a building with an elevator and air-conditioning. The host speaks English, and dietary notice is needed 24 hours ahead. It is the right choice if you want dinner and theatre in one place and one evening.

Read next: Athens dinner theatre: how to book

Ancient Greek Theater Performance: myths on a terrace

This is a live English-language performance of Greek myths in the Plaka district, below the Acropolis, and it takes place on a terrace. The ticket describes a story in which a present-day tourist slips on the Acropolis and wakes in fifth-century BC Athens, where he meets Medea, watches the daughters of Oedipus grieve and learns how Odysseus solved a problem with a Cyclops. The ticket gives the meeting point as the Koilon Theater at the base of the Plaka stairs and lists a one-hour performance. Flash photography is not allowed. Because it is on a terrace, a light layer is wise.

The Odyssey Live: the whole epic in 75 minutes

The Odyssey Live is a staging of all the rhapsodies of the Odyssey in 75 minutes, performed entirely in English. The ticket includes a mini bottle of Greek wine for adults or a fruit juice for children, and the ticket gives 15 minutes ahead of curtain-up as the time to arrive and collect it. It is aimed at families, but the ticket advises against bringing children below five, babies under 1, wheelchair users, people with mobility impairments or visually impaired people. The provider is Athens Living Museum, the same organiser as the dinner theatre.

Choosing in three questions

Ask first whether you want a meal. If you do, only the dinner theatre includes one. Ask next how long you can spare: an hour for the terrace performance, 75 minutes for the Odyssey and about two hours for the dinner. Ask last who is coming. The Odyssey suits families with children aged five and over, the terrace show is staged on a terrace, and the dinner has dietary rules to check.

• Want dinner and theatre: Around Greece in 5 Dishes
• Want myths and comedy in an hour: the terrace performance
• Want the whole epic with family: The Odyssey Live

Combining evenings

Because the shorter shows do not include a meal, they combine easily with a separate dinner before or after, and the organiser of the Odyssey show says on its own site that dinner is booked separately. On a longer stay you can see the dinner theatre one night and a shorter show another. If you only have one evening, pick on the meal question first. Whichever you choose, book through the calendar for your date and read the confirmation for start time and meeting point.