Prometheus Bound

photo: Richard Termine

Prometheus was bound to a rock for thousands of years. Theatregoers have an easier stretch of it at the Classic Stage Company's heavy-handed production of Prometheus Bound: just eighty minutes of monotony. I won't say that nothing has been done to mitigate the theatrically static nature of the centuries-old play - there is dramatic music that raises the pulse, and some interesting use of movement for the female chorus - but what has been done is not nearly enough. I spotted at least half a dozen fellow theatregoers snoozin' only a half hour in. The big news here is meant to be British actor David Oyelowo as the bound Prometheus, and while there is something to be said for the ferocity of the rage he sustains for the length of the play, I longed to see him in something (read: ANYTHING!) else.