The Odyssey: A Stage Version Read online

ANTICLEA

  She’d rather hurl herself and be smashed to pieces.

  ODYSSEUS

  And the others? Telemachus? And my old nurse?

  ANTICLEA

  Plough the sea’s furrows to reach them, Odysseus.

  TIRESIAS

  And you’ll sit on your bench with leaves like the ocean,

  ANTICLEA

  Under the magnanimity of a broad oak,

  TIRESIAS

  Dispensing justice there, rewarding devotion,

  ANTICLEA

  Till the bright sea darkens your life’s concluding arc.

  (ANTICLEA fading.)

  TIRESIAS

  Grey age will creep through your body like the grey sea.

  ODYSSEUS

  I want to die, to hold you again, my mother!

  ANTICLEA

  Blessed is the storm-tossed heart that ends tranquilly.

  TIRESIAS

  One breath divides you from her who’s already here.

  ANTICLEA

  Now I shall fade like an oak leaf in your garden,

  TIRESIAS

  A stone bench in the oaks, watching your hedges foam.

  ANTICLEA

  Merciless Poseidon will grant you his pardon.

  ODYSSEUS

  Elpenor saw all this, through a crack in the storm.

  (Trains flash past. Thunder. The sea.)

  ACT TWO

  SCENE I

  Noon. A raft. ODYSSEUS, ragged, badly sunburnt, is singing.

  ODYSSEUS

  Let his story be told, he’s a mariner bold,

  The king of the tumbling foam. He’s been scorched by the sun,

  Bones cracked by the cold, but a long, long —

  Sing his song, song a long, long way from …

  (Stops, gathering strength for the word —)

  Home.

  (A row of fins passes the raft. Squeaking.)

  Dolphins.

  (Sings)

  Let his story be told, he’s a mariner bold …

  (A fish leaps on to the raft. ODYSSEUS scrambles, catches it. Another fish. He wraps both carefully in his shirt for later.)

  Been scorched by the sun …

  (Behind him, a MERMAID with wet hair climbs aboard. ODYSSEUS staggers, turns. Another MERMAID, identical, appears. He speaks to them.)

  Sorry. Do me a favour. Back where you came from.

  FIRST MERMAID (Drying her hair)

  Why?

  SECOND MERMAID

  Yes, why?

  ODYSSEUS

  So I’ll know heat hasn’t cracked my skull.

  FIRST MERMAID (About her hair)

  It’s knotted. Weeds.

  SECOND MERMAID (Helping her)

  Are you saying we aren’t welcome?

  ODYSSEUS

  I’ve had too much raw fish, that’s what.

  FIRST MERMAID

  We’re beautiful.

  ODYSSEUS

  You’re very beautiful. But you’re talking fishes.

  SECOND MERMAID

  You caught us, love.

  ODYSSEUS

  I didn’t.

  FIRST MERMAID

  No, we leapt on board.

  SECOND MERMAID

  Because we felt sorry for you, Odysseus.

  FIRST MERMAID

  Never dreamt of two girls together in one bed?

  ODYSSEUS

  Fishes? A technical problem, wouldn’t you say?

  FIRST MERMAID

  There are ways.

  SECOND MERMAID

  And means. You know, like tipping the scales.

  FIRST MERMAID

  And stroking their glittering wet breasts? It’s easy.

  SECOND MERMAID

  Fish mate with men. Look! We aren’t just old fishwives’ tales!

  FIRST MERMAID

  Mum was a dolphin. Dad hailed from Nicosia.

  SECOND MERMAID

  Notice the way his frown forks into an anchor?

  (ODYSSEUS grabs a fish from his shirt.)

  ODYSSEUS

  You’re both going back home.

  BOTH MERMAIDS

  We don’t want to leave you!

  ODYSSEUS

  To fight madness with madness is the only cure.

  (He hurls one fish away. The FIRST MERMAID screeches, dives overboard.)

  SECOND MERMAID

  Go on. Tell people you saw us. Who’d believe you?

  (ODYSSEUS holds the second fish. The SECOND MERMAID thrashes around on the raft, slippery. He throws her overboard. Silence. ODYSSEUS looks into the water.)

  ODYSSEUS (Sings)

  Let his stories be told, he’s a mariner old,

  And his head’s turning white as the foam.

  Scorched by the sun, cracked by the cold

  And a long — sing the song —

  And a long, long way from …

  (Weeps)

  Home.

  (The raft, becalmed. Thin fog. Drowned SAILORS, from his crew, climb aboard.)

  STAVROS

  You remember us, Captain? We sail with you once.

  COSTA

  We loosened the winds.

  STAVROS

  Stavros, sir, from the mountains.

  STRATIS

  We drift, homeless, down there.

  TASSO

  We rise with penitence.

  COSTA

  When the gale swept Elpenor…?

  ODYSSEUS

  Fog has fouled my brains.

  (They work.)

  STRATIS

  We come to help you steer past them rotten-tooth crags.

  TASSO

  Ever hear of the Sirens, Captain? Two old crones.

  STRATIS

  They crouch up there in a yellow field. Real bags.

  TASSO

  Know what they drag for kindling? Sailors’ skeletons.

  STAVROS

  Like bone-bleached driftwood.

  ODYSSEUS

  You’ve drifted this far, Stavros?

  TASSO

  Their jaws hang like empty purses, but from them, songs…

  STAVROS

  You listen, Captain; you drown. Don’t be curious.

  COSTA

  Rolled by changing currents, made homesick for our wrongs.

  ODYSSEUS

  Poor souls …

  STRATIS

  The shadow of your raft passed over us.

  STAVROS

  I hear man sing, I say: ‘Captain Odysseus?’

  COSTA

  And I said to Stavros, ‘Is that our captain’s voice?’

  STRATIS

  ‘Why that man not reach home after so many years?’

  TASSO (Stamping on raft)

  This plank’s gone rotten.

  COSTA

  Cap, this gaff isn’t much good.

  STAVROS

  This pail make holes like a cheese. Shame on you, Captain.

  COSTA (Ear to the raft)

  There’s a choir of sea-worms singing in this wood.

  ODYSSEUS

  Why’re you doing this?

  STRATIS

  To fetch you home. Screw this tin.

  (Hurls away an old tin.)

  COSTA

  Up them gull-hooked rocks, riddled with spray like sponges.

  TASSO

  They climb, one claw, then the next, above the surf’s war.

  COSTA

  To settle for their song. Then, from their jaws’ hinges,

  STRATIS

  Music comes, Captain, to break your heart with pleasure.

  COSTA

  See that herd of hills coming like foaming oxen?

  TASSO

  And those charging waves, the cattle of Poseidon?

  COSTA

  Look! They’re scrambling up rocks to direct their song!

  STRATIS

  It pierces a hole in your ribbed heart, then you drown.

  (Music begins.)

  ODYSSEUS

  Tie me to the mast! Cram wax into
your ears. Quick!

  STRATIS

  I crying like snow melting into the rivers.

  COSTA

  Sir, you will forget your loved ones in that music.

  STRATIS

  Don’t listen like we did, sir, don’t be curious.

  ODYSSEUS

  Roll the beeswax till it gets hot and plug your ears!

  (STRATIS finds the wax.)

  COSTA

  Don’t do this, Captain. You’ve got to listen to us.

  (They tie ODYSSEUS to the mast.)

  ODYSSEUS

  Tie me up, and if I scream, ignore my orders.

  COSTA

  He’s hearing.

  TASSO

  He’s screaming something.

  STRATIS

  YOU’RE DEAF. ROW HARD!

  COSTA

  STEER CLEAR OF THE SHALLOWS. IT’S PULLING US LIKE ROPES.

  (ODYSSEUS soundlessly screaming.)

  STRATIS

  HE CAN SHOUT TILL HIS LUNGS BLEED, BUT YOU NEVER HEARD!

  COSTA

  WHAT?

  STAVROS (Weeping)

  A shepherd’s flute, dividing blue mountain slopes.

  ODYSSEUS

  LET ME JOIN THEM, YOU BASTARDS. PLEASE, PLEASE, CAN’T YOU HEAR?

  STRATIS

  KEEP ROWING, GOD DAMN YOU, WE’RE PASSING THROUGH THEIR SONG.

  COSTA

  WON’T BE LONG NOW, CAPTAIN, VERY SOON WE’LL BE CLEAR.

  ODYSSEUS

  TURN! SET ME DOWN OVER THERE, THAT’S WHERE I BELONG.

  (They pass through. ODYSSEUS, still tied, has his head down, sobbing. STAVROS revives.)

  STRATIS (Removing the wax carefully)

  We’re out of range now, Captain. Can you still hear it?

  ODYSSEUS

  No.

  STRATIS

  You’ve heard it and lived, and no man will again.

  ODYSSEUS

  Oh, Stratis, I felt such joy, no soul could bear it!

  STRATIS

  I know. Their song is smoke fluting from a mountain.

  ODYSSEUS

  And, Costa, after this, any music is noise.

  COSTA

  It fades from your ears. Like shells that lose the sea’s voice.

  ODYSSEUS

  Through the veils of their song, I saw my beloved’s eyes.

  COSTA

  Everything you loved or fought for was in that bliss.

  ODYSSEUS

  How can I repay you phantoms for all your toils?

  STRATIS

  This isn’t finished. There’s Scylla and Charybdis.

  ODYSSEUS

  Where?

  STRATIS (Pointing)

  Those dark cliffs dividing. Where the channel boils?

  COSTA

  It’s your only way home, Captain. You have no choice.

  STRATIS

  These aren’t just sailors’ stories that swirl round shipwrecks.

  COSTA

  Where those drifting rocks resound with their false thunder.

  STRATIS

  Scylla, she gobbles dolphins, with six writhing necks.

  COSTA

  And gargling Charybdis who sucks vessels under.

  (Night. Heavy crossing clouds, shadows on the sail. The crew keep watch. ODYSSEUS curls up. On either side, Scylla and Charybdis. EURYCLEIA is rocking a cradle, she and BILLY BLUE sing in turn.)

  EURYCLEIA (Sings)

  Sleep, my lickle pickney, don’t ‘fraid no monsters,

  As me launch your lickle cradle into dreaming seas.

  Close your eyes with songs me sing you, lickle Odysseus,

  See how the tree of heaven shake down all its flowers.

  (A star pitches.)

  BILLY BLUE (Sings)

  Sometimes, to swaying sea-stars, clouds slowly close,

  Their motion making monsters who widen at will.

  EURYCLEIA (Sings)

  So, cradled in him comfort, a child see what grows

  From his shadow to shapes on a nursery wall.

  (ODYSSEUS cowers, whining.)

  BILLY BLUE (Sings)

  Doubt foams into dark forms feeding on phosphorus,

  The waves sound like jaws chewing the night.

  Sometimes friendly faces turn to fiendish horrors.

  Scylla soared on one side, Charybdis on his right.

  (In the moonlight, the CREW turn into a six-headed

  monster that rises like a changing cloud.)

  Now cackling like Kraken from her churning cauldron,

  Her six heads searching for a sea-meal of men …

  Giant jaws grinding like gates of yawning iron …

  EURYCLEIA (Sings)

  Are all of these monsters a child’s imagination?

  (The six heads approach ODYSSEUS.)

  BILLY BLUE (Sings)

  Or the madness of a mariner too long alone?

  (ODYSSEUS screams. They overturn the raft.)

  SCENE II

  A SHEPHERD on a rock watches as SAILORS carry ODYSSEUS ashore with his sacks. NAUSICAA in a cloak is waiting. ODYSSEUS sleeps throughout.

  NAUSICAA

  His head rolls like a seaweed weary of motion.

  FIRST SAILOR

  Never seen a man sleep so deep. Here’s all his things.

  NAUSICAA

  Burrow the shield like a turtle. Pile it with sand.

  SECOND SAILOR

  Good, miss.

  (NAUSICAA kisses ODYSSEUS.)

  NAUSICAA

  You’re home at last. Last of Troy’s tired kings.

  (She and SAILORS exit.

  Ithaca. Sunrise.)

  ODYSSEUS

  Shepherd, how did I get here? What island is this?

  SHEPHERD

  They cradled you in a shell to rest on this coast.

  ODYSSEUS

  There was this island, a girl, I told them stories.

  SHEPHERD

  Then slept for a week.

  (Pause.)

  ODYSSEUS

  My fortune! The shield! It’s lost!

  SHEPHERD

  No, they buried it in the dry sand of that cave.

  ODYSSEUS

  Did divers paddle down to it? Am I sleeping?

  SHEPHERD

  You’re wide awake.

  ODYSSEUS

  They’ll snatch it! The sea’s claws!

  SHEPHERD

  It’s safe.

  ODYSSEUS

  You’re lying.

  (The SHEPHERD shakes his head.)

  My fortune’s gone. That’s why you’re smiling.

  SHEPHERD

  Go and look.

  ODYSSEUS

  I’m afraid to. The sea’s done them harm.

  SHEPHERD

  Salt does its work. You expect them bright and shining?

  ODYSSEUS

  Look, I’ve a kingdom to manage when I get home.

  SHEPHERD

  Correct.

  ODYSSEUS

  I’m not like the others. I’m a small king.

  (He looks for his goods, finds them.)

  SHEPHERD

  Of this honeycombed rock which is your small kingdom.

  ODYSSEUS

  Where?

  SHEPHERD

  The sand under your cracked feet.

  ODYSSEUS

  Ridiculous.

  (He dusts and polishes his goods.)

  SHEPHERD

  You slept for a week, tight as a nut in its shell.

  ODYSSEUS

  There was a girl. A generous king … Alcinous.

  (He holds up the shield.)

  Look at this!

  SHEPHERD

  What?

  ODYSSEUS (Laughing)

  The turtle shell’s found its turtle.

  SHEPHERD

  Can you hear a crystal noise, clear and refreshing?

  ODYSSEUS

  I hear wind like surf swaying the sails of poplars.

  SHEPHERD

  This is Raven’s R
ock, next to Arethusa’s spring.

  ODYSSEUS

  And those poplars are Mount Neriton’s, I suppose?

  SHEPHERD

  What tongue are spring and poplar talking, can you tell?

  ODYSSEUS

  From the crackle of their consonants … Ithacan.

  SHEPHERD

  Why should they speak your tongue, green leaf and clear vowel?

  ODYSSEUS

  I am in Ithaca? I’m home?

  SHEPHERD

  Weep, weary man.

  (ODYSSEUS weeps.)

  ODYSSEUS

  Why for ten years did my head roar with the sea’s noise?

  SHEPHERD

  Ask yourself, for ten years, what did the bitterns scream?

  ODYSSEUS

  All I know is, I’m sick of the sea’s bitterness.

  SHEPHERD

  The waves were homeless, the bitterns envied your dream.

  ODYSSEUS

  My tears are the salt that drenches those shaken trees.

  SHEPHERD

  Turn. What is the hoarse shale of your own surf sighing?

  SURF VOICES

  Polumechanos, polutlas, polumetis, Odysseus.

  Polumechanos, polutlas, polumetis, Odysseus.

  SHEPHERD

  That’s you, man of evasions, man skilled at lying.

  (Birds sing.)

  ODYSSEUS

  The swallows are screaming …

  SHEPHERD

  To deafen you with joy.

  ODYSSEUS

  I’m nobody.

  SHEPHERD

  Change into the nobody you were.

  ODYSSEUS

  You’re not a shepherd, are you? You’re Athena, boy.

  SHEPHERD

  Now grime your face with sand and act like a beggar.

  ODYSSEUS

  Why?

  SHEPHERD

  To save your house and your fortune. Hurry now.

  (Distant, then nearer, dogs yelping.)

  The old man’s a good soul, but a bit talkative.

  ODYSSEUS

  Which old man?

  SHEPHERD

  Hear his dogs yapping? He herds your swine.

  ODYSSEUS

  Eumaeus. Poor Eumaeus! Is he still alive?

  SHEPHERD

  He won’t be if you don’t act to save wife and son.

  (He exits. EUMAEUS enters.)

  EUMAEUS

  Ay! Back! Mash!

  (He throws stones. The dogs run off.)

  Lucky they didn’t tear you to pieces.

  ODYSSEUS

  My friend …

  EUMAEUS

  Rip you to bone like teeth tearing a chop.

  ODYSSEUS

  Not much here but bone, sir. Very little to seize.

  (He collects his things, covers his head.)

  EUMAEUS

  Odysseus, my master. For him they used to stop.

  ODYSSEUS

  Think it’ll rain?

  EUMAEUS

  That’s how rain starts. With a drizzle.

  ODYSSEUS

  What work do you do, sir?

  EUMAEUS

  Keep hogs. Name’s Eumaeus.

  (The sky darkens. Rain.)

  ODYSSEUS

  Those clouds are building a storm. God help every sail.

  EUMAEUS