The Odyssey: A Stage Version Read online

  For my mother.

  (The SUITORS draw back, stumbling. Light from an open door. PENELOPE, veiled, crosses.)

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  They part like hills for a sail entering harbour.

  TELEMACHUS

  They are stunned by her passage each time she appears.

  EURYCLEIA

  She begging the poet to stop praising the war.

  (The SUITORS jostle, crowding PENELOPE.)

  AMPHINOMUS

  Aim for my heart! Arch that white arm!

  EURYMACHUS

  It’s been three years.

  CTESIPPUS

  Not Leodes. His sex is soft wax. It’d dissolve!

  LEODES

  Not vain Ctesippus, plucking his brows in mirrors!

  CTESIPPUS

  Little shrimp prick!

  LEODES

  His own face is all he can love.

  EURYMACHUS

  Unveil the shrine of that brow to its worshippers!

  CTESIPPUS

  Those eyes, black olives, that forehead whose marble stuns!

  (PENELOPE unveils her face.)

  AMPHINOMUS

  Her smile is like the sunlight edging a window.

  CTESIPPUS

  Till it brightens Antinous, her favoured prince.

  (PENELOPE, BILLY BLUE and MAIDS, except MELANTHO, exit. TELEMACHUS crosses to the SUITORS.)

  TELEMACHUS

  I mourned my father’s absence. Soon I’ll avenge it!

  CTESIPPUS

  Such sweet impetuosity, Telemachus!

  EURYMACHUS

  There’s a hundred of us, boy. How will you manage it?

  TELEMACHUS

  Pigs! From today you will stop uprooting my house!

  (The SUITORS exit.)

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Steer for the wide sands of Pylos. Look for Nestor.

  TELEMACHUS

  Right now?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Next, Sparta. Find red-haired Menelaus.

  TELEMACHUS

  Those are two long journeys, Captain. What’s the quest for?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Do you want your father’s shadow to cross this house?

  TELEMACHUS

  God!

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  I’ve twenty oarsmen waiting, hunched on their oars.

  TELEMACHUS

  One for each year I’ve missed him. Manning whose vessel?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  A beaked yellow ship, like a hawk? Antinous’.

  TELEMACHUS

  You seized it?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Borrowed it. Well, it was there to seize.

  TELEMACHUS

  And it’s fitted?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  With amphora of ground barley.

  TELEMACHUS

  All right. So I get to Pylos. What next once I’m there?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Assemble the elders. Demand a big parley.

  TELEMACHUS

  Those old men love quarrelling. Bunch of rattling sticks.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  The cord of your voice must bind those sticks together.

  TELEMACHUS

  I envy my father’s authority.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Or tricks.

  TELEMACHUS

  Tricks?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  I too saw the wooden horse blocking the stars.

  (MELANTHO exits.)

  EURYCLEIA

  You see?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Troy fell for it.

  TELEMACHUS

  Was he that brilliant?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  A horse foaling men? They thought it ridiculous.

  EURYCLEIA

  Him could convince a grasshopper it was a ant.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Look there! A swallow trying to get through the roof!

  (He exits.)

  EURYCLEIA

  Me don’t see it. Now where him gone? How that happen?

  TELEMACHUS

  He was Athena! Do you need any more proof?

  EURYCLEIA

  No.

  TELEMACHUS

  Then I’ll follow the winged heels of my captain.

  (He exits. PENELOPE returns, attended by MELANTHO, who whispers in PENELOPE’s ear.)

  PENELOPE

  Who told you to stay so close to me, Melantho?

  EURYCLEIA

  Because Melantho have ambitions of her own.

  MELANTHO

  Ambitions?

  EURYCLEIA

  Madame, it have things that you don’t know.

  PENELOPE

  You can have my sorrow, Melantho, with my throne.

  MELANTHO

  I don’t want your throne, she’s lying. Eurycleia!

  PENELOPE

  Look, girl, there are ways of putting your fire out.

  EURYCLEIA

  You didn’t boast to me in the kitchen?

  MELANTHO

  Liar!

  EURYCLEIA

  That some prince in there go marry you?

  MELANTHO

  LIES!

  PENELOPE

  DON’T SHOUT!

  EURYCLEIA

  Madame …

  PENELOPE

  He left with this stranger? Are you crazy?

  MELANTHO

  Some shining young captain was here who fought at Troy.

  PENELOPE

  Stay in the kitchen.

  MELANTHO

  Not for long. Please excuse me.

  (She exits, brushing past EURYCLEIA. A burst of song from the SUITORS.)

  EURYCLEIA

  Madame, him is of age, him no longer a boy.

  PENELOPE

  The bloody war’s over. Can’t they sing something else?

  EURYCLEIA

  Him gone and pack him things.

  PENELOPE

  Pack his things? He’s gone? Where?

  EURYCLEIA

  God, whatever we suffer we bring on we selves!

  PENELOPE

  Talk!

  EURYCLEIA

  Some swallow talk to him, then it disappear.

  PENELOPE

  Swallow? Old woman, you want my palm on your face?

  EURYCLEIA

  Hit me, go on.

  PENELOPE

  Why not tell me he was leaving?

  (She embraces EURYCLEIA.)

  EURYCLEIA

  Melantho who tell you. She is always the first.

  PENELOPE

  Melantho helps me to unravel my weaving.

  EURYCLEIA

  True.

  PENELOPE

  We fold his clothes in camphor. Unoccupied.

  EURYCLEIA

  So long in their press, them fit Telemachus now.

  PENELOPE

  I’ve knelt by our olive-tree bed, I’ve prayed and prayed.

  EURYCLEIA

  But him knew you would last.

  PENELOPE

  How in hell could he know?

  EURYCLEIA

  Mistress, is strong-timbered virtues uphold this house.

  PENELOPE

  Till my patience cracks and it plunges in chaos.

  EURYCLEIA

  Because none in there can match the husband you choose.

  PENELOPE

  Yes, choose and then lose him. Who next? Telemachus?

  (She breaks down. EUMAEUS enters.)

  EURYCLEIA

  Not now, Eumaeus, a family crisis here.

  EUMAEUS

  Since when am I excluded from this family?

  EURYCLEIA

  Back to the kitchen, old man.

  EUMAEUS

  I brought the order.

  PENELOPE

  Eumaeus, listen! My one son has left this house.

  EUMAEUS

  Where’s he gone, Mistress?

  EURYCLEIA

  Why you don’t mind your business?

 
; EUMAEUS

  It’s her business, fifty hogs and fifty prime sows.

  EURYCLEIA

  Go!

  EUMAEUS

  The stock’s running out at a rate. Now this news.

  PENELOPE

  Eumaeus, you believe the Master’s safe, don’t you?

  EUMAEUS

  Safe? ‘Fine day,’ I thought, goading pigs up the white road.

  PENELOPE

  Say he’s safe, Eumaeus. Now my son has gone, too.

  EUMAEUS

  Their trotters dancing. Happy at being slaughtered.

  (EURYCLEIA shows EUMAEUS out.)

  PENELOPE

  He dotes on Odysseus. That’s the weight he bears.

  EURYCLEIA

  Him old, but take good care of the stock all the same.

  PENELOPE

  They raced by rivers together, hunting wild boars.

  EURYCLEIA

  His ears does prick like the dog at Odysseus’ name.

  (ANTINOUS enters.)

  ANTINOUS

  Does your son believe he’s the master of this house?

  PENELOPE

  He is. He’s of age.

  ANTINOUS

  He shouted at your suitors.

  EURYCLEIA

  Dat is him right, sar! His father still Odysseus.

  ANTINOUS

  SHUT UP!

  (To PENELOPE) See how a servant talks in front of us?

  PENELOPE

  She is this house’s foundation. She was his nurse.

  ANTINOUS

  Well, her dugs are dry now.

  (To EURYCLEIA) Listen, you! No more noise!

  PENELOPE

  ‘If I die, marry,’ he said, and sloped to his wars.

  ANTINOUS

  To lead an army of shadows. Death is his bride.

  PENELOPE

  When you prove my divorce, I’ll follow his orders.

  ANTINOUS

  Ord-ysseus is lost since Troy, his wish disobeyed.

  PENELOPE

  You’re the great pine above those suppliant princes.

  ANTINOUS

  You’ve made a hundred men think they’re like no one else.

  PENELOPE

  You’ll soon win your siege. I’ve run out of devices.

  ANTINOUS

  Then that wall is down that you built between ourselves?

  PENELOPE

  The wall has cracks in its face.

  ANTINOUS

  Bend that proud neck. Nod.

  PENELOPE

  A nod could be final.

  ANTINOUS

  Let one nod finish me.

  PENELOPE

  Another dead husband?

  ANTINOUS

  One nod is all I need.

  PENELOPE

  To die?

  ANTINOUS

  For one arrow from those eyes? Happily.

  (MELANTHO enters.)

  MELANTHO

  Don’t punish me, sir, but I have serious news.

  ANTINOUS

  Better make it good, girl, or I’ll lop off that nose.

  MELANTHO

  The boy has gone.

  EURYCLEIA

  Melantho!

  ANTINOUS

  Gone? Telemachus?

  MELANTHO

  Look in the harbour. He stole your ship, Antinous.

  PENELOPE

  Poor girl! You were the last jewel left of my trust.

  ANTINOUS

  There was some sea captain here. You know who he was?

  (He grabs EURYCLEIA.)

  EURYCLEIA

  Me no see no sea cap’n, sir! Leggo me wrist!

  (ANTINOUS releases EURYCLEIA.)

  MELANTHO

  She’s been unravelling the same shroud for three years.

  ANTINOUS

  Ah! I understand. Call in the others. Right now!

  (MELANTHO exits.)

  PENELOPE

  You touch my son and you’ll face my husband’s revenge.

  ANTINOUS

  Your husband is dead. What sword can slice a shadow?

  PENELOPE

  No!

  ANTINOUS

  Let him return. He’ll see how your patience ends.

  PENELOPE

  My patience wasn’t slavery, it was pure trust.

  ANTINOUS

  And mine for three years. Get our marriage bed ready.

  PENELOPE

  Look, sir, my vows aren’t brooches I wear till they rust.

  ANTINOUS

  Neither is my star, that’s kept its distance, lady.

  (AMPHINOMUS and CTESIPPUS enter, armed.)

  AMPHINOMUS

  The girl told us.

  ANTINOUS

  Arm two fast vessels!

  CTESIPPUS

  There’s no wind.

  ANTINOUS

  If you lose him, hide in some cranny of the coast.

  AMPHINOMUS

  Right!

  ANTINOUS

  Post sentinels on the crags of each island.

  AMPHINOMUS

  They’ll roost till they turn into eagles, Antinous!

  ANTINOUS

  Very odd! He’s never acted this way before.

  AMPHINOMUS

  Well, with this ambush he won’t act this way after.

  ANTINOUS

  He was simply sullen, until this visitor.

  CTESIPPUS

  Then this island is ours. No more son, no father!

  (AMPHINOMUS and CTESIPPUS exit.)

  ANTINOUS

  If he dies your stubbornness put him in the earth.

  PENELOPE

  You think I’d step over his grave into your arms?

  ANTINOUS

  I’d rather not kill him. But if that’s what you’re worth.

  PENELOPE

  I’ll bend when the bow bends.

  ANTINOUS

  What bow?

  PENELOPE

  The one that aims.

  (Points at his heart.)

  ANTINOUS

  You’re like some olive tree, waiting for her shadow.

  PENELOPE

  And you would wrench her last leaves: son, Eurycleia.

  ANTINOUS

  That hot blue sea stays empty. That sail you pine for.

  PENELOPE

  Its line is my bow-string, and its waves my lyre.

  (ANTINOUS exits.)

  EURYCLEIA

  Me lost a husband too. Him was a damn scoundrel.

  PENELOPE

  Eurycleia!

  EURYCLEIA

  But me miss the scamp all the same.

  PENELOPE

  My hope is like a little lamp on a black hill.

  EURYCLEIA

  Yes, and when night coming down, is the worse, madam.

  PENELOPE

  Our bed is white and quiet. It’s smooth with silence.

  EURYCLEIA

  Me know how linen keep still when somebody die.

  PENELOPE

  His shadow slides on my wall. I feel his presence.

  EURYCLEIA

  Oh, ma’am!

  PENELOPE

  I turn, and my glance makes his shadow fly.

  (They exit. Shadows of crossing oars, increasing speed. BILLY BLUE enters.)

  CHORUS OF OARSMEN (Chanting off)

  Ayis! Do-o! Trayis! Tetra! Pente! Ex!

  Ayis! Do-o! Trayis! Tetra! Pente! Ex!

  BILLY BLUE (Sings)

  A one, a two, a three, four, five, six goes the mattock

  Of the boatswain as the oarsmen bend their necks

  Racing like mullet from the shadow of a sea-hawk.

  Ayis! Do-o! Trayis! Tetra! Pente! Ex!

  So mowers will increase the circle of their scythes,

  Flailing at the waves of grass bowing from the wind

  So the long blades of the rowers race for their lives

  Towards Pylos, past Samos, leaving their hunters behind

  Who spin back like sea-hawks, tired of the chase,

>   The oars fanned towards Pylos, then closed near Nestor’s palace.

  (Exits.)

  SCENE III

  Nestor’s palace. Interior. TELEMACHUS and CAPTAIN MENTES waiting.

  TELEMACHUS

  You got here fast. Been to Temesa already?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  A following wind.

  TELEMACHUS

  Struck a good deal with the bronze?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  The bronze? Oh, the bronze! Let’s say the wind was steady.

  TELEMACHUS

  Wasn’t your cargo iron?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  What’s the difference?

  TELEMACHUS

  Athena …

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Wait. Your hunters, what happened to them?

  TELEMACHUS

  They got tired like hawks. We cheered, watching them turn.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  You had twenty great oarsmen.

  TELEMACHUS

  Like scythes in rhythm.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Those hawks will hover in inlets for your return.

  (NESTOR enters, with ATTENDANTS.)

  TELEMACHUS

  Is this Nestor? That aged?

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Surf-haired. He always was.

  NESTOR

  I cracked brine-seasoned whips over foaming horses.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Sir, Captain Mentes. This prince is Telemachus.

  NESTOR

  He enraged the sea, your father, Odysseus.

  FIRST ATTENDANT

  The sea’s a maw that devours.

  NESTOR

  A god who saves.

  TELEMACHUS

  He saved you.

  FIRST ATTENDANT

  To his shame, image of Odysseus.

  SECOND ATTENDANT

  From Poseidon’s charging herd, the unbridled waves.

  NESTOR

  No whip dipped in brine can steer the sea’s white horses.

  TELEMACHUS

  The sea’s ungovernable, is that what you mean?

  NESTOR

  Does he love questions? Another Odysseus!

  TELEMACHUS

  Sir …

  NESTOR

  Young Odysseus! You finish what I mean!

  TELEMACHUS

  Where’s my father? Each dusk the sea-swallow steers home.

  NESTOR

  There’s brilliance in here.

  FIRST ATTENDANT

  Your eyes, watering. The glare.

  (NESTOR peers at MENTES.)

  NESTOR

  No. Like when your bright feet, Athena, skim the foam.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  I’m Captain Mentes, sir.

  NESTOR

  No. The clouds’ messenger.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  When was that, sir?

  NESTOR

  At Troy. A swallow twittering.

  TELEMACHUS

  That was when you last saw my father. Is that right?

  NESTOR

  We looked up, unhelmeted, every blood-grimed king.

  FIRST ATTENDANT

  All of Troy’s sorrow is borne in a swallow’s flight.

  NESTOR

  Ten years! And my heart is stabbed by a bird’s twitter.

  CAPTAIN MENTES

  Kites cried there, and ravens, the sky one black complaint.

  NESTOR

  Her voice was as close as yours.