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Observations: Prometheus lives again – and takes to the streets

 

Matilda Battersby
Friday 15 June 2012 10:07 BST
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Not to be confused with Ridley Scott's alien thriller Prometheus, another reinterpretation of the Greek myth arrives in Greenwich next week. Prometheus Awakes will be a piece of theatre on a grand scale - providing the weather stays fine.

An outdoor collaboration between disabled-led theatre company Graeae and Catalan company la Fura dels Baus, it will recount the myth of Prometheus's punishment after he creates Man and steals fire from the heavens for his use. Gigantic puppets (Prometheus resembles the 60ft animatronic which accompanied Take That on their Progress tour) will be supported by two enormous cranes, actors from the Graeae company and 65 volunteers. There will be a 42ft "humanette" puppet, a 24ft wheel and a swinging thurible will hold 12 actors and emit perfumed smoke.

The puppets will move through the grounds of the Royal Museums Greenwich as colourful projections are beamed on to the 17th-century Queen's House. Part of the London 2012 Festival and Greenwich+Dockland International Festival, it has been commissioned for the year in which London hosts the Paralympic Games.

Amit Sharma, co-director of the show says: "It's going to be awe-inspiring. It really is going to make the earth move and the sky explode."

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, 22 June (greenwichfestivals.co.uk)

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