“There’s no disgrace in suffering wrongly at the hands of one’s enemy.” -Howard Rubenstein
By Eric George Tauber
CINCINNATI, Ohio — The late Dr. Howard Rubenstein’s Prometheus Bound was scheduled to open off-Broadway at The Tank in September of 2020, but alas: Covid. So, the publisher sent me a copy of the script for review. Rubenstein’s play is not a translation of Aeschylus but a free adaptation, which is a good thing. Translations of ancient texts often require long winded explanations of why certain references were funny or topical at the time, which audiences don’t have time for.
If you’re not familiar with the ancient Greeks, Prometheus was a Titan who sided with the smarter Olympians and helped them defeat and replace the Titans. Zeus cast the Titans into eternal torment in Tartarus while Prometheus became the God of Pottery. Out of clay, Prometheus formed human beings. Zeus thought little of early humans and would have let us freeze to death. But Prometheus was proud of his creation, so he stole fire from the sun and gave it to us, helping us survive and even innovate. This made Zeus so angry that Zeus had Prometheus bound to a boulder at the edge of the world (which was still flat in those days) for all of eternity.
Rubenstein’s play opens with Hephaestus (God of the Forge) taking Prometheus to the edge to chain him up. Prometheus doesn’t try to fight back or escape, but he does prick Hephaestus’ conscience. Hephaestus uses the Nuremberg defense that he’s “just following orders.”
Prometheus is visited by a couple of other gods and a chorus of Water Nymphs. They listen sympathetically to his story, but other than that, what can you do? Zeus is Zeus.
In spite of his predicament, Prometheus still has one card to play. He knows that Zeus will fall to a son born of a particular woman and he knows who. Zeus could just keep it under wraps and be faithful to Hera, but Zeus is Zeus. Prometheus refuses to reveal the name so long as he is bound.
Overall, the play is pretty much talking heads. There are no great fight or chase scenes, no twists or startling revelations, no choices that really surprise us, and no clear resolution. I was also a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see the eagle that daily devours Prometheus’ liver. Perhaps Rubenstein thought it too difficult to stage, but it could be done well with a rod puppet. Also, the directions call for the Water Nymphs’ costumes to be sheer, which is problematic in the age of #metoo.
But for the intellectuals in the crowd, the text does raise poignant questions for post-show discourse.
At what point is “just following orders” not a valid defense?
What can you do when you witness injustice but feel powerless?
How much should you tolerate a capricious despot who will shower you with praises one day and be heavy-handed the next?
I don’t know if Dr. Rubenstein, who lived in San Diego County, had the previous White House administration in mind when he wrote his description of Zeus, but the parallels are there.
Prometheus Bound by Howard Rubenstein is available from Granite Hills Press.
And that’s Show-Biz.
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Eric George Tauber is an actor as well as a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. Formerly a resident of San Diego, he now resides in Cincinnati. He may be contacted via eric.tauber2@sdjewishworld.com