Icarus / Ikaros – My favorite myth

a drawing from my journal c. 1988

“Remember the story of Icarus, who wanted to fly to the sun, but lost his wings and fell into the sea…”

I remember when I heard that line, I was 20 years old and attending a rehearsal for a performance piece at La Mama that my acting teacher, Leo Shapiro, was in. I didn’t know who/what Icarus was at the time, but the line captivated me.  As soon as I could get to a bookstore (this was way pre-internet) I looked up the reference in a book on Greek Mythology and was as entranced by the story as I had been by the line in the play.  I bought the book.

For those unfamiliar with the tale, Icarus was the son of Daedelus, and they were both imprisoned within King Minos’ labyrinth for the father’s crime of helping Theseus slay the Minotaur. To escape, Daedelus constructed wings made of feathers and wax with which they would both fly out.  He cautioned his son not to fly too close to the sun, lest the wax melt and his wings fall apart.   But Icarus was too bold, too impetuous, too full of youth – he was enchanted by the sun and wanted to get closer, ignoring his father’s warning.  As he got closer, his wings began to melt just as he had been warned, and he fell to his death.

What is about young adults that they are so drawn to this story?  Since then I have met others who have also told me of their obsession with this myth.  For me, I think the appeal was the idea of “flying” out of whatever you feel it is that “contains” you – of being bold, and daring, and trying to achieve glory no matter the cost – even if it means certain failure.

A few years later I started a theatre company in Boston and called it Ikaros (I used the Greek spelling because Ikaros was, well… Greek.  I also thought it looked cooler.)  This was my first time out starting something of my own, and I think I really identified with the boy who wanted to throw caution to the wind and try to achieve something glorious against all odds (it’s no secret that most young theatre companies fold within a season or two).  It was an image that kept me going.

Sure enough, my theatre folded after a few productions and I moved on to LA.  But did it “fail”?  Did Icarus “fail”?  Or did he cash in the prospect of a long life in exchange for a momentary, glorious victory?

Tagged as: Hero(ine)s, Icarus, myth