Eyecatcher is based on the old tale of Perseus The Graeae and the Gorgon Medusa the gorgon. The play starts with the three ugly sisters Grim, Gru, and Gris. They have one eye and one tooth which they share between each other.

The three sisters live at the edge of the real world. They are known as the Graeae. They don’t have anyone but each other, and have one task of looking after their other sister, Medusa. Medusa is a monster. She hisses and snags, has a head full of snakes, and a glare that can turn people into stone. The Graeae love their sister and feel it is their duty to keep her safe.

They keep Medusa looked up in a cage,because they don’t want her to see her own reflection. They don’t want her to see her hideous looks, so by keeping her locked up they are saving her from herself and what she doesn’t know.

They protect their sister Medusa by taking it in turns to guard her and feed her. Three o'clock is a little something to keep her going, Six o'clock is dindins, and nine o'clock is supsups and twelve o'clock is midnight feasting.

Perseus is tall, charming, handsome, and wants to be a hero, a hero with the best pair of heroic boots. He is set an ultimatum to kill Medusa so that the king will stop pestering his mother to marry him. So he sets off on his journey and stumbles across the lair of Grim, Gru, Gris, and Medusa. He wakes the three sisters and they panic because they don’t want to him to discover Medusa. As he enters their cave and then Gru lunges at Perseus and tries to strangle him, because she sees him looking at the cage Medusa’s in. Perseus falls unconscious on the floor.

Perseus knows that Medusa is in the cage and as the Graeae take it in turns to guard him, he tricks all of the sisters by telling them that he will make all of their dreams come true. He offers to set them free into the real world. However Gru doesn’t fall for Perseus’s trick.

Grim and Gris wake up and Gru tries to tell them the truth about Perseus. They are however, too rapped up in what he has promised them. While they are arguing Perseus grabs the eye from Gru, knowing that without it, they are blind and he could kill Medusa. Grim, Gru and Gris drop to the floor to find their eye so that they can help beloved sister. But it is too late, Perseus opens the cage and cuts Medusa’s head off and puts it in a bag. He then tells the sisters that they are free to do as they please. The Graeae walk over to the cliff edge in search of their eye. Perseus skins the snakes from Medusa’s head to make himself a pair of heroic boots.

Written by: Adele Towey
Creative Development Progamme
Administration Assistant.

Click on the pink links below for resourses Teacher Resources:

Dramatising the Synopsis (Secondary)
Literacy and Drama Ideas (primary)

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