When Helen Comes Home: Laura Aikman On Bloodsport: After Helen Of Troy

A woman returns home after a decade-long absence – and a war has been fought in her name.

The searing new play from Ava Pickett – who made waves with her debut 1536 in 2025 – Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy reimagines the classical myth for our current moment, re-set in modern-day Essex and grappling with the manosphere, polarisation, and what it means to be judged for the decisions you make. Michelle Dockery stars as Helen, opposite Laura Aikman as Cee, Helen’s childhood best friend and the wife of the man who waged war to bring Helen back.

Running from Thursday 3 September through to Saturday 10 October 2026 at Stratford East, this production marks director Lisa Spirling’s debut as the theatre’s new Artistic Director. It’s provocative, funny and certainly unmissable – a play about friendship, motherhood, and what happens when the woman whose face started a war returns home to finish it.

Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy, Stratford East: What To Expect

In this edition of Stage Notes, Laura Aikman guides us through the production.

Laura Aikman (Cee) in rehearsal for Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy. (© Pamela Raith)

What’s The Plot?

Years after she walked out on her family, Helen has returned home after a war fought in her name. Her husband celebrates, but her childhood friend Cee does not. Over the course of this first fragile night of peacetime, wounds reopen, loyalties fracture, and the true cost of a woman’s choice to leave her life is made clear.

‘It’s a play about a woman returning home against her will after choosing to leave ten years previously and the carnage that has been wreaked in her absence,’ Laura explains. ‘The play is about what it is to be a mother, a woman, a best friend. It’s a battle of ideas and expectations. It’ll make you laugh, cry, and occasionally scare the shit out of you.’

This is the world premiere of Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy, and it marks Lisa Spirling’s directorial debut as Stratford East’s new Artistic Director. Laura hadn’t encountered Ava’s work before reading the script, though she’d heard of the playwright’s growing reputation. ‘I knew of Ava, but I hadn’t been able to get tickets to 1536 at the Almeida so I hadn’t actually seen her work yet. I read the play and I was floored,’ she remembers. ‘It’s one of the best things I’ve ever read. And I desperately wanted to talk to someone about it after I finished it (obviously no one else had read it at this stage as it was super confidential so I couldn’t) and that’s what made me think it would be such a brilliant show. People leaving the theatre with a million thoughts and questions makes for the best theatre in my opinion. I love it when a show is provocative and challenges you.’

Laura Aikman (Cee), Maimuna Memon (Dani), Ellie Turner (Chloe), Emma Monnickendam (Hermione) and Michelle Dockery (Helen) in rehearsal for Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy. (© Pamela Raith)

The Cast

Laura plays Cee, described as a ‘Tuesday night, Toby Carvery’ sort of girl – funny, sweet, and doing what she can in her own way to cope with the impossible situation she’s found herself in. ‘Cee has missed Helen deeply,’ Laura notes. But as Helen’s longest friend and Mario’s wife, Cee is caught between loyalty to both, a tension that runs through the play like an electric current.

For Laura, Bloodsport marks a significant return to theatre after more than 20 years working exclusively in film and television. ‘It’s been a really different process for me. I haven’t done a play since I was a teenager. It’s so different, there is a huge amount of talking and analysis of the text which you just don’t have time for in telly, nor would anyone want your opinion to that extent! But really my approach to the character is the same. I try to understand them and then I always fall in love with them. I think that gives me the most empathy towards them and allows me to feel deeply for them.’

Director Spirling encouraged deep textual work from day one, Laura says. ‘We did a lot of work on thoughts and intentions, breaking the scenes down line by line. Lisa is pretty free with how we move around the space and will encourage us when something is looking good but she’s very open to our thoughts and ideas.’

Costume plays an essential role in bringing Cee to life, too. ‘I’m all dressed up for Helen’s return,’ Laura explains, donning a Nadine Merabi dress that’s ‘super feminine with an exaggerated silhouette.’

Maimuna Memon (Dani) and Joshua-Alexander Williams (Luke) in rehearsal for Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy. (© Pamela Raith)

The full cast is as follows:

• Michelle Dockery as Helen
• Laura Aikman as Cee
• Maimuna Memon as Dani
• Gerard Monaco as Mario
• Ethan Moorhouse as Messenger
• Emma Monnickendam as Hermione
• Jay Taylor as Marcus
• Ellie Turner as Chloe
• Joshua-Alexander Williams as Luke

Michelle Dockery (Helen) in rehearsal for Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy. (© Pamela Raith)

The Venue

Stratford East is a theatre with roots in its community and intimate staging putting the audience very close to the action. For the actors, this means there’s nowhere to hide.

‘It’s a beautiful theatre,’ Laura notes. ‘I recently went to see Tamzin Outhwaite do Abigail’s Party there (which was sensational) and the atmosphere was electric. It’s a theatre with a real sense of identity and grounding in its community which is a very special thing to have in London.’

Ellie Turner (Chloe) and Emma Monnickendam (Hermione) in rehearsal for Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy. (© Pamela Raith)

The Takeaway

What will linger as you leave the theatre? Laura hopes it’s questions in equal measure with emotion. ‘What it is to be a woman in society today, how women are judged for the decisions they make. What it is to be angry and how easily things can escalate into widespread violence and unrest in a polarised society. Which characters were right and which were wrong and for which of their actions… there’s a lot packed in there,’ she says.

Eat & Drink Nearby

Daisuke Shimoyama‘s latest venture Kokin serves a wood-fired omakase menu inside The Stratford hotel while Gordon Ramsay has his Bread Street Kitchen rooftop restaurant on the Olympic Park, both just a 15 minute stroll from the theatre. For street food and games, head up to Roof East, which is still open for summer until 27 September.

Just seeking a drink? ‘Support the theatre and buy a pint in there,’ Laura recommends. ‘You’re already there, you might as well!’

Michelle Dockery (Helen), Laura Aikman (Cee) and Ellie Turner (Chloe) in rehearsal for Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy. (© Pamela Raith)

Tickets

Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy runs 3 September–10 October 2026 at Stratford East (Gerry Raffles Square, London E15 1BN).

• Tickets from £10
• Age guidance: 14+
• Box Office: 020 8534 0310 or stratfordeast.com