YOU could always trust the Greek Gods to meddle in the affairs of humans who were otherwise basically muddling along fine.

And so it is in Spike Theatre’s latest clever-but-silly creation The Games, which, we are told, is a lost classic by comic playwright Aristophanes pieced together by historians from scraps of papyrus and pottery shards.

Chief god Zeus and his son Hercules (played by clowning expert Jamie Wood with a tiny puppet body strapped to his neck) each place their bets on a human to be most victorious in that year’s Olympic Games.

His wife Hera stirs things up by granting a female athlete’s wish to compete, which involves the girl sprouting a complete set of manly tackle and becoming super strong.

It’s deliciously ridiculous but extremely cleverly put together, with power ballads, shadow puppetry, mime, great sound effects and lighting and lots of physical comedy.

Wood and Liam Tobin are hilarious as reluctant olympians Darrius (Tobin) and terrible poet Stanzas (Wood), who find themselves suddenly fated to compete when they were mainly going along for the spectacle.

Lauren Silver plays Hermaphrodite with an air of innocence and the sort of facial expressions Norman Wisdom would have been proud of. The Games is an uplifting treat of a show that balances verbal jokes with slapstick.

And while it may not really be ancient, it certainly has staying power.