The Odyssey: A Stage Version Read online

  The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Characters

  Act One

  Act Two

  Also by Derek Walcott

  Copyright

  FOR GREG DORAN AND TONY HILL

  CHARACTERS

  ‘BLIND’ BILLY BLUE, a singer

  ODYSSEUS, the Greek general, King of Ithaca

  ATHENA, a goddess, also disguised as CAPTAIN MENTES, A SHEPHERD, etc.

  Ithaca

  PENELOPE, wife of Odysseus

  TELEMACHUS, son of Odysseus

  EURYCLEIA, his old nurse

  ANTINOUS, a suitor to Penelope

  EURYMACHUS, AMPHINOMUS, CTESIPPUS, LEODES and POLYBUS, suitors

  MELANTHO, a maid

  EUMAEUS, an old swineherd

  ARNAEUS, a lout

  Pylos

  NESTOR, King of Pylos

  Sparta

  MENELAUS, King of Sparta

  HELEN, his wife

  PROTEUS, the Old Man of the Sea

  The Ship

  EURYLOCHUS, Odysseus’ lieutenant

  ELPENOR, the helmsman

  STRATIS, COSTA, STAVROS and TASSO, Odysseus’ crew

  Scheria

  NAUSICAA, a princess

  ALCINOUS, her father, King of the Phaeacians

  ANEMONE and CHLOE, Phaeacian girls

  The Island of the Cyclops

  CYCLOPS

  A PHILOSOPHER

  TWO PATROLMEN

  RAM, a manservant

  The Island of Calypso

  CIRCE, a witch

  REVELLERS and CELEBRANTS

  The Underworld

  ANTICLEA, Odysseus’ mother

  TIRESIAS

  AGAMEMNON, ACHILLES, THERSITES and AJAX, the ghosts of Troy

  Suitors, Attendants, Maids, Sailors, Mermaids, Courtiers, Athletes, etc.

  The play was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, at The Other Place, 2 July 1992, with the following cast:

  ODYSSEUS

  Ron Cook

  PENELOPE

  Amanda Harris

  TELEMACHUS

  Stephen Casey

  EURYCLEIA

  Claire Benedict

  EUMAEUS

  Trevor Martin

  ATHENA

  Susan-Jane Tanner

  BILLY BLUE

  Rudolph Walker

  ANTINOUS

  Jonathan Cake

  NESTOR

  David Westhead

  THERSITES

  Gordon Case

  PROTEUS

  Antony Bunsee

  NAUSICAA

  Sophie Okonedo

  CYCLOPS

  Geoffrey Freshwater

  CIRCE

  Bella Enahoro

  ANTICLEA

  Darlene Johnson

  ACHILLES

  Peter de Jersey

  Other parts played by members of the cast.

  Director

  Gregory Doran

  Designer

  Michael Pavelka

  ACT ONE

  PROLOGUE

  Sound of surf.

  BILLY BLUE (Sings)

  Gone sing ’bout that man because his stories please us,

  Who saw trials and tempests for ten years after Troy.

  I’m Blind Billy Blue, my main man’s sea-smart Odysseus,

  Who the God of the Sea drove crazy and tried to destroy.

  Andra moi ennepe mousa polutropon hos mala polla …

  The shuttle of the sea moves back and forth on this line,

  All night, like the surf, she shuttles and doesn’t fall

  Asleep, then her rosy fingers at dawn unstitch the design.

  When you hear this chord

  (Chord)

  Look for a swallow’s wings,

  A swallow arrowing seaward like a messenger

  Passing smoke-blue islands, happy that the kings

  Of Troy are going home and its ten years’ siege is over.

  So my blues drifts like smoke from the fire of that war,

  Cause once Achilles was ashes, things sure fell apart.

  Slow-striding Achilles, who put the hex on Hector

  A swallow twitters in Troy. That’s where we start.

  (Exit.)

  SCENE I

  Troy. Dusk. Heavy smoke. The kings, AGAMEMNON, MENELAUS and NESTOR, with AJAX and THERSITES, the mercenary, pile weapons on a pyre. Drums.

  AGAMEMNON

  Pile our worn weapons on this remembering cairn.

  NESTOR

  Till salt air rusts them, till they’re wrapped in veils of sand.

  MENELAUS

  Turn the gaping beaks of our fleet homeward again.

  AJAX

  Since Troy is a plain of ashes where kites ascend.

  THERSITES

  Till men ask ‘Was it here?’ of the gliding frigate.

  AGAMEMNON

  ‘Was it here that their lances pinned Achilles’ pyre?’

  NESTOR

  Who rattles his angry lance along heaven’s gate.

  AGAMEMNON

  Through the length of war, home was our long desire.

  MENELAUS

  It was mine, Menelaus, whose wife was its cause.

  AJAX

  And mine, Ajax, the heir of Achilles’ armour.

  (ODYSSEUS enters at a distance.)

  ODYSSEUS

  What?

  THERSITES

  Not mine, Thersites. No wife, no son, no house.

  AGAMEMNON

  And ingenious Odysseus.

  NESTOR

  And mine, Nestor.

  (Pause. A swallow twitters overhead. They look up.)

  MENELAUS

  That swallow’s eager to leave. Where’s Odysseus?

  THERSITES

  In his tent, checking his tribute.

  AJAX

  Once more, we wait.

  (ODYSSEUS steps forward, eating.)

  AGAMEMNON

  We’re piling gifts on Achilles’ mound. Any size.

  (ODYSSEUS pays his small tribute.)

  ODYSSEUS

  There. I couldn’t choose what to give. Sorry I’m late.

  (Silence.)

  O lucky dead, who can’t tell friends from enemies!

  (Silence.)

  Agamemnon denied you flame-haired Briseis.

  (Silence.)

  Menelaus mocked you: ‘Deliverer from Mice’.

  (Silence.)

  Now all your glories are reflected in their eyes.

  NESTOR

  This scrolled shield Hephaestus hammered, who is its heir?

  (He holds up a shield.)

  THERSITES

  He willed it to Odysseus on the battlefield.

  AJAX

  Achilles was fitful. He promised me first.

  ODYSSEUS

  Where?

  AJAX

  Look, two claims injure his spirit! You take the shield.

  ODYSSEUS

  No, no, you take it, Ajax, you fought the hardest.

  AJAX

  You heard me say that? Did I ever make that boast?

  MENELAUS

  For God’s sake, it’s his burial mound. Let him rest.

  (He gives ODYSSEUS the shield.)

  AJAX

  Bear it, you turtle! Take ten years to
reach your coast.

  AGAMEMNON

  Now let the coiled rams’ horns moan with our departure.

  MENELAUS

  Let the eagle’s pennon steer us through the cloud’s foam.

  (Horns and drums.)

  AGAMEMNON

  Let these pennons tatter after ten years of war.

  NESTOR

  Let wet-heeled Athena race our lunging ships home.

  (Exit except THERSITES and ODYSSEUS, who retrieves more souvenirs from the mound.)

  THERSITES

  So. We’re naked men again. Our armour is shelled.

  ODYSSEUS

  Yes. Home to the fig tree’s shade, the wine press, the farm.

  THERSITES

  Hang it on a hook, but cries will ring from that shield.

  ODYSSEUS

  How’ll you live?

  THERSITES

  This old war-dog? Off scraps of fame.

  ODYSSEUS

  You regret victory, Thersites. I know why.

  THERSITES

  Yeah? Then you make my dissatisfaction exact.

  ODYSSEUS

  After victory what?

  THERSITES

  Peace. Screw peace. No money.

  ODYSSEUS

  Peace ruins mercenaries.

  THERSITES

  No? I’ll note the fact.

  ODYSSEUS

  It loosens the bonds of war. That’s what you’re feeling.

  THERSITES

  And of course you think you know what my unrest is.

  ODYSSEUS

  A warm white back curled against you. Your own ceiling.

  THERSITES

  The sky is my roof. This sword sleeps with Thersites.

  ODYSSEUS

  Get a son.

  THERSITES

  And a dog. And a blooming garden.

  ODYSSEUS

  Come to Ithaca.

  THERSITES

  Can you promise me a war?

  ODYSSEUS

  No. Hang your sword on a hook.

  THERSITES

  What? Hang my own wife?

  ODYSSEUS

  Our ribbed bodies long for their original shore.

  THERSITES

  Except this body. That’s found no shore to believe.

  ODYSSEUS

  Lend me your wife, your sword. Here’s my will, Thersites.

  (THERSITES gives his sword to ODYSSEUS, who draws on the sand.)

  THERSITES

  My white ribs, a harp that the sea-crab’s fingers pluck.

  ODYSSEUS

  My shoal-pebbled island, too stony for horses.

  THERSITES

  Except Thersites loves horses. His usual luck.

  ODYSSEUS

  I bequeath him Mount Neriton’s marching poplars.

  THERSITES

  I’d tell them to halt, man. Trees spread peace. I decline.

  ODYSSEUS

  You’d rule next to me.

  THERSITES

  I’d piss on the populace.

  (ODYSSEUS draws on the sand.)

  ODYSSEUS

  Take my hunting dog, Argus.

  THERSITES

  That’s it! I resign.

  ODYSSEUS

  Why?

  THERSITES

  Hate dogs. Slobberers. Dumb pain, dumb affection.

  ODYSSEUS

  Open the gates of those locked teeth. Admit love, friend.

  THERSITES

  I’ll say it with grinding jaw. I loved you. Go on.

  (They embrace, then exit in opposite directions.

  A distant roar, growing. Banners, masts.

  BILLY BLUE enters.)

  BILLY BLUE

  Then, as the slow forest of Greek masts began sailing,

  (A long cry of a bird or woman.)

  They heard the wide cry of a woman or frigate bird …

  And that cry lanced their hearts for all that it augured:

  Over the stones of her children, Hecuba wailing.

  A funeral cry like a torn cloth, then a huge hum,

  The wings of flapping standards unfurling like cranes.

  CHORUS OF ARMIES (Off)

  Ranks and divisions, hoist our banners for home!

  BILLY BLUE

  Like cranes that darken the sky before winter rains

  CHORUS OF ARMIES

  The bones of our comrades rattle like dice on this shore.

  Ranks from Pylos, divisions from Ida, shapely men.

  BILLY BLUE

  Their white ribs hoisting the black sail of the vulture.

  CHORUS OF ARMIES

  Divisions from Aspledon, ranks of poplars fallen.

  BILLY BLUE

  Then, a sail, for ten years crawling on the sea’s line.

  (Exits.)

  SCENE II

  Ithaca, ten years later. TELEMACHUS, seated, is staring at another chair. EURYCLEIA enters with wine, waits.

  TELEMACHUS

  A swallow spoke to me from the wrist of that chair.

  EURYCLEIA

  You send for wine? What happen to your sea captain?

  TELEMACHUS

  The elect can take natural shapes, Eurycleia.

  EURYCLEIA

  Lord, bird t’ief this boy’s wits.

  TELEMACHUS

  It twittered, ‘He’ll return.’

  EURYCLEIA

  These thoughts is like straw, whirling around your father.

  TELEMACHUS

  The whirr of one swallow starts destruction’s engine.

  EURYCLEIA

  An’ this nest empty. This house that he should be in.

  TELEMACHUS

  You said Athena, the sea-eyed, is Egyptian.

  EURYCLEIA

  But never in life me call any bird captain.

  TELEMACHUS

  She said she’d argued with God to save my father.

  EURYCLEIA

  Nancy stories me tell you and Hodysseus.

  TELEMACHUS

  I believe them now. My faith has caught a fever.

  EURYCLEIA

  Launching your lickle cradles into dreaming seas.

  TELEMACHUS

  What were those stories? An old slave’s superstition?

  EURYCLEIA

  People don’t credit them now. Them too civilize.

  TELEMACHUS

  It had a girl’s voice.

  EURYCLEIA (Laughing)

  A girl? So that’s your distraction!

  TELEMACHUS

  Why?

  EURYCLEIA

  A girl make sense. But when bird mater’alize …

  TELEMACHUS

  He was trim and bearded and far too young for Troy.

  EURYCLEIA

  Troy old as you, Telemachus. Twenty years’ pain!

  TELEMACHUS

  She’s here, Eurycleia!

  EURYCLEIA

  I old. Don’t mock me, boy!

  TELEMACHUS

  Believe me!

  EURYCLEIA

  My faith gone. It can’t come back again.

  TELEMACHUS

  To me and my father you have been slave and nurse.

  EURYCLEIA

  Yes. Is Egypt who cradle Greece till Greece mature.

  TELEMACHUS

  Then why doubt the goddess now in a swallow’s noise?

  EURYCLEIA

  Well, if that bird was your captain, make him stand there.

  (A sea captain, CAPTAIN MENTES, appears.)

  TELEMACHUS

  Your faith has returned.

  (EURYCLEIA turns.)

  EURYCLEIA

  Forgive my sins, sir. You is?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Your sins are so far back God has forgotten them.

  EURYCLEIA

  Eurycleia. Me raise both boys.

  TELEMACHUS

  This is Captain Mentes.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  I swam Troy’s smoke with his father, that clouded time.

  EURYCLEIA

  Why you come only no
w?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Because he’s in danger.

  EURYCLEIA

  This boy come of age. Them suitors don’t want no heir.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Strange things may happen here, but there will be stranger.

  TELEMACHUS

  A swallow has lanced us with light, Eurycleia.

  EURYCLEIA

  I looking at God and can’t remember my sins.

  TELEMACHUS

  I turned my back. We were talking. Then you weren’t there.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  I went to the window. My ship is loading bronze.

  (A roar from the SUITORS.)

  TELEMACHUS

  You can hear for yourself.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  What’s all the feasting for?

  TELEMACHUS

  What else? My mother’s marriage and my father’s wake.

  EURYCLEIA

  They go spew like vomit through the gorge of that door.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  You’ve come of age. You know what you must undertake.

  EURYCLEIA

  A hundred boars jostling to nose his mother’s trough.

  TELEMACHUS

  Grunting and shoving till she finishes her shroud.

  EURYCLEIA

  Is a hundred in there, Captain. Plenty enough.

  TELEMACHUS

  My father is lost. My faith has entered a cloud.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  He’ll fix them. His bow-string humming like a swallow.

  TELEMACHUS

  I can’t leave my mother with them. It isn’t right.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Look, the day she chooses, you die. You must leave now.

  EURYCLEIA

  She will choose one.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Then he’ll murder you one night.

  (Enter drunken SUITORS — ANTINOUS, EURYMACHUS, AMPHINOMUS, CTESIPPUS and LEODES — dragging BILLY BLUE and MAIDS with them.)

  AMPHINOMUS

  What’s the boy doing here? This stuff’s not for you, lad!

  (A food fight, they pelt TELEMACHUS.)

  EURYMACHUS

  We’ll keep doing this till we hear from your mother.

  CTESIPPUS

  Who’s your friend?

  (They crowd TELEMACHUS and MENTES.)

  AMPHINOMUS

  Can’t you see the kid’s missing his dad?

  EURYMACHUS

  Your dad’s dead. You’ll choose one of us for another.

  (Silence.)

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Why are they suddenly quiet?

  TELEMACHUS