Seen at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 9th of August 2022
4 stars – A feminist myth
Io and Prometheus share a sense of rebellion, but of different natures. Prometheus has defied Zeus by giving fire and hope to mankind. Io suffers for Zeus’s whim but doesn’t want to surrender to the idea that gods can be cruel and the world purposeless. Despite being initially scared and confused, she then reveals her strong and courageous nature. The victim of someone else’s arbitrariness, her sense of justice elevates her to a better hero than the eponymous Prometheus.
Staging Io’s point of view, Kira Mason’s original play doesn’t only give importance and prominence to a character that is but sketched in Aeschylus’s tragedy. Io (Alyssa McGuire) is a mortal in a play of gods, and confrontation with Prometheus raises themes that our mostly atheist society tends to push to the side and no longer question. Furthermore, she is a woman in a society that allows women limited freedom. Her trouble starts with the unwanted attentions of Zeus and the jealousy of Hera, gods that she used to worship. The (woman) victim being held responsible for the crime (or rape) is far too common a scheme, that the play addresses smartly.
This tragicomic play, directed by Edoardo Berto, is rich in themes but doesn’t lack humour, nor irony either. The foreseer Prometheus (Gunnar Bjercke) has always a pop culture quote ready, Hermes/Hephaestus (James Hay) is made fun of, and the Naiads (Andrea Linhova, Madeleine Lily Ellis, and Sarah Michelle Ault) don’t miss a chance to be the ones who make fun of everybody.
The brilliant acting delivers a highly effective performance, both for each actress and actor individually and in their interactions. Choreographies (Sarah Michelle Ault) strengthen their collective presence on stage, while offering the audience a break from the speech, and visually aesthetic images. A great praise to Laura Bachmann and María Morales Díe’s scenography, which is so cleverly conceived, that it can be transformed in numerous ways, easily and without distracting attention, to serve all needs of the play.
Aug 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27; 4:45 pm
Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Venue 39: The Space on the Mile – Space 3
Tickets and Info: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/prometheus-bound-io-s-version
Company Website: https://mythsunboundproduc.wixsite.com/myths-unbound-produc/team-4
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myths.unbound/
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Butterwort 
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