Theater Review
We 21st-century mortals often forget that the wisdom and astute reading of the human condition embedded in 5th-century Greek drama so often retains shocking resonance to us today.
The Getty Villa’s eighth outdoor theater production, “Prometheus Bound,” presents a great tragic poem sometimes chanted, sometimes sung or rhythmically spoken. As the drama unfolds, the characters express the whole of human emotions, including pride and fear, love, pity and, most passionately, the hatred of arbitrary authority.
In Joel Agee’s new translation, based on the Aeschylus version, the play is literally set in motion as Prometheus is bound for eternal punishment to what is the central symbol of the production, a five-ton steel wheel.
Prometheus is a Titan, one of the deities that ruled the universe before being overthrown by the Olympians under powerful Zeus. For showing sympathy for mankind, bestowing to them the gift of fire, Prometheus is chained to a rock with an eagle tearing at his liver. He is to be left there for all eternity or until he agrees to disclose to Zeus which of Zeus’ children will try to replace him.
There is no doubt of Zeus’ implacable vengeance. “Everyone is harsh when new to power,” says Hephaistos, who despite his kinship to Prometheus, has been ordered to bind the criminal to the rock.
As he is carried onto stage and strapped to the wheel, Prometheus may look bedraggled, but he remains defiant, unrepentant, calling out to the earth, oceans and the sun—“the all-seeing brilliant eye to be witness to what he, a god, must suffer.”
And yet, Prometheus, whose very name means “forethought,” knew beforehand his fate and his future, but intends to drain out his suffering until Zeus gives up his wrath. The Titan god, Okeanos, warns him to tame his tongue lest he sharpen Zeus’ anger. “You will not kick against the gods, knowing that he, the king who rules by his own right, is harsh and owes account to no one.” But because Prometheus is a god and immortal, he is beyond further punishment.
Propped spread-eagle within the circumference of the wheel, Prometheus recounts the story of his beneficence to mankind, bringing to them, to us, all the human arts, and most importantly perhaps, hope. The Chorus, acting in our stead, asks him to reveal the shape and course of the future.
Running parallel to Prometheus’ agony and humiliation is that of Io, who also suffers the consequences of Zeus’ anger. A priestess of Hera, Zeus’ wife, Io was pursued by the god, and after rebuffing him is tuned into a heifer relentlessly stung by a gadfly. In poignant sympathy, the two offer a tender sequence in the drama as Io laments her endless wanderings and Prometheus, in turn, reveals her ultimate resolve.
Ron Cephas Jones as Prometheus and Mirjana Jokovic as Io, as gods brought to heel, reveal their pathos for humankind.
While the play delivers a poignant and pointed comment on what remain very real and painful realities in our world—war, persecution, sabotage, paranoia and repression— the theatrical elements, dance, music and staging translate into an intensely involving 75 minutes.
The collaborative project between the Getty and CalArts Center for New Performance and Trans Arts has been brought to the stage by CalArts Artistic Director Travis Preston, whose vision for the play has been opened up with the collaboration of the designers, technicians, managers and performers.
“Prometheus Bound” continues at the Getty Villa through September 28. For tickets ($42), call (310) 440-7300.
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