Copyright held by the Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop
View Permission for Production Policy
Written & Performed by Lakin, Hannah, and Hunter
Under the influence of JoAnne Akalaitis
Directed by Gwethalyn
Scene 1: the Sea Queen’s Chamber
All: THE SEA QUEEN’S CHAMBER
The three women do a ceremonial dance while humming a lullaby
Scene 2: A Future in Ashes
All: A FUTURE IN ASHES
Woman 1 and Man 1 are standing tableau as if talking. Woman 1 is obviously pregnant. Woman 3 walks between Woman 1 and Man 1 and kneels at Woman 1’s stomach.
Woman 3: Oedipus, king of the land, our greatest power,
Here is a boy still too weak to fly from the nest,
The embers glow and die and Apollo sees the future in ashes
Woman 3 becomes tableau. Woman 1 and Man 1 work around her as if she is not there. All the time they speak to the baby.
Man 1: What will bring you to birth, tell me child,
Miseries numberless, grief on grief, no end-too much to bear
Man 1: You are the curse, the corruption of the land
Woman 1: An oracle came and it declared that doom will strike him down,
At the hands of a son, our son
Woman 1’s pregnant belly emanates light. Woman 1 and Man 1 become tableau again. Woman 3 goes to Woman 1. Woman 3 removes the sash from her dress and you see it resembles a noose. Woman 1 puts noose up to Woman 1’s stomach as if to strangle the baby
Woman 3: It does not fit,
Puts noose up to Woman1’s throat
But here it will
Woman 1 and Man 1 break tableau as Woman 3 freezes.
Woman 1: This day will bring your birth and your destruction
Woman3 breaks tableau and touches both Man 1 and Woman 1
Woman 3: Waling, madness and doom, disgrace,
All are theirs forever
Scene 3: A Small Infection
All: A SMALL INFECTION
We hear music. Woman 1 walks across the stage carrying the baby. The baby emanates light. The woman regards the baby lovingly at first and then she turns cold towards it as she holds it out away from her to place it on a rock.
Woman 1: You were my golden sun.
Woman 2 and Woman 3, begin to dance, gracefully, flowingly.
Woman 1: One thing could hold the key to it all, a small beginning gives us grounds
for hope.
Woman 2: It’s a fever, one small infection. Caused by a hasty decision. A symptom
of cowardice, it crawls underneath your skin, searching for the jagged edges
and breaks of your heart, where you keep you’re deepest of pains. It screams
at you the terrible things you’ve done. Fastened his ankles, hired a
henchman to fling him onto a barren, trackless mountain.
Woman 3: it spreads that pain, filling your bones with doubt, your veins with shame.
Each organ swelling with guilt. If you are the man he says you are, believe me,
you were born for pain.
All 3 start to frantically switch items, woman 2 and woman 1 started with broaches, woman 3 with the sash, all while whispering
All: You were my golden sun (Repeats until they are all on the ground)
They faint.
Scene 4: Jellybones
All: JELLYBONES
Woman3 is sitting on the highest platform, woman2 is on the lowest platform playing with the sash that woman3 is aimlessly dangling
Woman3: Send me my dearest, my two daughters
Children dear, where are you
Come, come hither to my arms
Being of thy kin as are my fortunes
Woman2 takes sash and walks up behind woman3
Woman2: Both undone
The two that were parents
No one, my children
I cannot gaze on you
Woman2 hands woman3 the other end of the sash. They circle each other then dance with it between them
Man2 enters and sits on middle right platform, he hums
Man2: Mortal say, that man is happy
Seeing them so tender, so desolate
Woman2 drops rope and sits on man2’s lap
Woman2: Look on Oedipus
Man2: You’ll get your wish at once
Woman3 wraps sash back around her clothes and sits next to woman2. She removes the broaches from woman2’s clothing and places them in man2’s fist.
Woman3: What a black sea of terror will overwhelm him
Now we keep our watch and wait the final day
Man2: Send me my darling girls, my own flesh and blood
My children, the boys, are men, my two girls
My helpless girls
Woman2: Fathers, brothers, sons, brides, wives, mother
I am Oedipus
Woman2 collapses into man2’s lap
Man2: I am Oedipus?
Man2 falls to lie on his back with woman2 still in his lap
Woman3 takes back the broaches from man2’s hand and throws her sash over man2 and woman2
Woman3: I am Oedipus
Scene 5: Contradiction
ALL: CONTRADICTION
The women sit dejected then gasp and look up, in fear
WOMAN 3: My sister, it’s dreadful.
WOMAN 2: Tell me what’s happened first.
Something struck me out of nowhere.
WOMAN 2: From this day on, I wouldn’t look left or right.
WOMAN 3: I’d never displease you, least of all in this.
WOMAN 2: You’d be covered with guilt, from both your parents.
WOMAN 1: Then how could he love me so?
The women link wrists and lean out in a precarious position where they rely on each other to keep from falling, all the while looking up.
WOMAN 2: An oracle came to Laius one fine day…
WOMAN 3: How does he know? Some secret knowledge or hearsay?
WOMAN 2: That’s how seers and all their revelations mapped out the future.
WOMAN 3: Strange, hearing you just now… My mind wandered, my thought racing
back and forth…
Woman 3 begins to collapse the other two pull her back into the circle.
WOMAN 2: Apollo was explicit: my son was doomed to kill my husband…
WOMAN 3: He didn’t flinch at murder; he’ll never flinch at words.
WOMAN 2: … or was it Hermes, god of lightning ridges?
WOMAN 3: I will never reveal my dreadful secrets.
WOMAN 2: Just send me home. You bear your burdens, I’ll bear mine. It’s better that
way…You’ll get nothing from me.
Woman 2 collapses, the others are not able to save her, they must quickly cling to each other for support, they still look up. Woman 2 sinks down to a curled sitting position at the feet of the others.
WOMAN 3: He wasn’t three days old and the boy’s father fastened his ankles, had a henchmen fling him away on a barren, trackless mountain.
WOMAN 2: You cannot see how far you’ve gone in guilt…
WOMAN 3: Apollo has brought neither to pass.
Woman 3 collapses to a curled sitting position. Woman 1 suddenly reaches up towards the place they have been looking in fear.
WOMAN 2: Endless night that cursed you! Listen to me and learn some piece of mind.
WOMAN 3: Why this rage?
WOMAN 2: You forced me, twisted it out of me…
Woman 2 and 3 melt down to form a cocoon around the feet of woman 1
ALL: You can never touch me.
Scene 6: Tableau
ALL: TABLEAU
Man 2 is sitting on a platform hunched over thinking deeply
Man 2: Born to kill his father,
And bed his mother,
To birth siblings and children
To give his wife and mother daughters and granddaughters
Sons and grandsons
Where the three roads meet is where his fate was sealed
To blind himself with a self enforced curse
Woman 1 walks in and past Man 2
Man 2: You-scum of the earth, you’d enrage a heart of stone,
Did you think you could keep this up and never suffer
Man 2 moves and starts to strangle Woman 1. She gently takes his hands and pushes them away. She puts her own hands around her neck and starts to strangle herself
Man 2 pulls away Woman 1’s hands and embraces her
Man 2: She receives from me whatever she desires
Woman 2 walks onstage and leads Woman 1 off. Woman 2 puts her hand to Man 2’s face them becomes tableau. Man 2 works around her he examines her like you would a statue at a museum
Man 2: Look, Jocasta’s coming,
And just in time, with her help,
You must put this fighting of yours to rest
Woman 2 comes out of tableau and addresses Man 2
Woman 2: Why do you hesitate my lady,
Why not help him
Man 2: Tell me what’s happened first
Woman 2: Loose, ignorant talk started dark suspicions
What’s that, O god do I really hear you sobbing-
I know the joy they gave you all these years
The joy you must feel now
Man 2: How I weep for you,
Such disgrace
Mother and father marked out that rock
To be my everlasting tomb-buried alive
Let me die there, where they tried to kill me
Woman 2: You’ve wept enough
Woman 2 skips off stage. Woman 3 walks on stage with sash in hand and confronts Man 2
Woman 3: Come to these hands of mine,
That served his once bright eyes so well-
Man 2 takes broaches off Woman 3’s clothing and walks off stage into darkness.
Woman 3 takes sash off and it resembles noose again.
Woman 3: Tell me I’m listening
(talking to sash)
Woman 1 and Woman 2 enter on stage. Woman1 holds baby. Woman1 grabs woman3’s arm and drags her off to the side of the stage.
Woman 1 and Woman 3 sit across from each other and hand baby back and forth.
Woman 1 and Woman 2 (singing a lullaby): Mother and Father marked out that rock to be your
everlasting tomb
Count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last
Then take me away, it’s time
Woman 2 walks over to them and takes the baby from Woman 3, Woman 3 in turn takes Woman 2’s sash. Woman 2 and Woman 1 caress and hum to the sash.
Woman 3 and Woman 1 gracefully move towards Woman 2. As she speaks they twirl the sash on and around her.
Woman 2 seems to speak to baby
Woman 2: Look on Oedipus,
Fathers, brothers, sons
Brides, wives, mothers
Puts sash around Woman 2’s neck as she speaks.
Woman 3: Wailing, madness and doom, disgrace
She strikes a frozen pose at woman2’s feet looking up at the baby and posed like she fears it.
Woman 1 grabs sash and circles around woman2 as she speaks
Woman 1: All the griefs in the world
That you can name
All are theirs forever
Woman 1 strikes a frozen pose at woman2’s feet looking up at the baby like she wants to grab it
Woman 2 looks down at baby with a cold glare
Woman 2: I will never reveal my dreadful secrets
Scene 7: Certain Glam
ALL: CERTAIN GLAM
Woman 2 lounging wearing sash, Woman 1 and Woman 3 pampering her
Woman 2: What did they say? (mockingly) “ You are fated to couple with your mother,
you will kill your father, the one who gave you life”
All stop suddenly, burst out into laughter as the switch places. Woman 1 is now wearing sash lounging
Woman 1: I am brilliant. I resolve conflict before it can begin. I problem-solve. I know
what works and what does not.
(as they work)
Woman 2: the jewels always go perfectly with the gown
Woman 3: The hair is always in the latest styles.
All stop suddenly, burst out into laughter as they switch places, J3 now lounging wearing sash.
Woman 4: my husband a hero. Loved by his people who thus love me as well. No such
thing could happen to us. We are clever, we are beautifully royal. He could never
make the murder of Liaus truly fit the prophecy. Impossible, trust me.
All stop suddenly, look at each other, burst out laughing.
ALL: (GASP)
Scene 8: False Alarm
All: FALSE ALARM
[We hear music. Woman three carries the baby on stage in the same manner as woman one before and places it on a rock/alter. The baby emanates light until it is placed on the rock.. On center high-raised platform, WOMAN 1 stands strong, hands on hips, chest out, “surveying her kingdom”. WOMAN 2 sits below WOMAN 1, on low-raised platform, facing away from her, appears distressed. WOMAN 3 lies beneath one of audience-connected platforms. A swaddled “baby” on center isolated platform, untouched by all.]
WOMAN 1: There, you see? The laurel wreath is bright with berries.
WOMAN 2: I shudder to look at you. Can we bring him back, quickly?
WOMAN 1: By the blazing sun, you’ll destroy me!
WOMAN 2: Someone fetch him – now!
[Crawl toward edge of platform, reaching for bundle on center isolated platform.]
Pinned his ankles together, left him for dead on that barren mountainside…
WOMAN 1: I did. And I’ll do it again.
WOMAN 2: From this day onward, call the prophet blind.
WOMAN 1: Whatever Apollo needs and seeks; he’ll bring to light himself, with
ease. [Come down to platform with WOMAN 2.]
WOMAN 2: Let it burst! [Edging away from WOMAN 1.] Whatever will,
whatever must!
WOMAN 1: You can’t hurt me or anyone else that sees the light.
WOMAN 2: Our son is not your downfall; no, you are your own.
[Rushes over toward swaddle, suddenly stops during WOMAN 1’s line.]
WOMAN 1: Be sensible, Jocasta.
WOMAN 2: You know what you’re asking?
[Stepping away from swaddle, back toward WOMAN 1.]
WOMAN 1: I do.
WOMAN 2: You go too far. It’s perfect justice: natures like yours are hardest on
themselves.
WOMAN 1: Enough of this loose, ignorant talk. What do you want? You want
me banished, killed?
WOMAN 2: Those who jump to conclusions may go wrong.
WOMAN 1: You must put this fighting of yours to rest.
WOMAN 2: I can hold nothing back from you. [Lying at WOMAN 1’s feet.]
WOMAN 1: Destiny find me filled with reverence, pure in word and deed.
WOMAN 2: I will never let you go. [Rising slightly, hugging WOMAN 1’s waist.]
WOMAN 1: I’ve escaped the worst. [Affectionately petting WOMAN 2’s head.]
WOMAN 2: That was the story. It hasn’t died out yet.
WOMAN 1: The vision no sooner dawns than dies, blazing into oblivion.
Scene 9: Where Three Roads Meet
All: WHERE THREE ROADS MEET
Woman1 is dancing on center platform. As she dances woman2 enters with man1. Man1 cares baby bundle in his arms. Woman1 breaks from the dance to partner with man1 but he wobbles as if disappearing with baby off stage.
Woman1: What haunts you so,
Woman2: Laius was killed by strangers,
Thieves, where three roads meet
Woman1: What do you mean,
Why so anxious, startled
Woman1 and woman2 circle each other
Woman2: Leave me alone-get out
Woman2: You’re wrong, so wrong
Woman1: Why this rage, you’re so unbending
Woman2: My baby no more murdered his father
Then Laius suffered his wildest fear-
Death at his own son’s hands
Woman3 dances on stage and comes to sit at woman2’s feet
Woman3: I’d rather not cause pain for you or me
How terrible-to see the truth
So grim, so dire
Woman1 and woman2’s image collapses into an embrace and caress, walk off stage in a suggestive fashion leaving woman3 alone
Some secret knowledge
I am guilty
Man1 reenters with baby bundle. He hands it to woman3 but when she reaches for it he pulls it away, he puts the baby down and steps away as if to give woman3 the choice of him or the baby, she looks from one to the other. She stands and walks towards man1 but he wobbles off stage. Woman1 returns and takes baby off stage. Woman 3 does not see her.
Scene 10: The Son
All: THE SON
The women spread out in a line and caress their own bodies. Woman one approaches woman 3.
WOMAN 1: Revere the sun, the holy fire that keeps us alive.
WOMAN 3: You wipe my fears, coming so generously to me…
WOMAN 1: What a handsome prince you raised…
WOMAN 3: Could I train a level glance on you, my king?
WOMAN 1: I’d have done that already, my queen.
Woman 3 reaches woman 1 and places her hand on her shoulder they gasp and then continue on, always touching, towards woman 2.
WOMAN 3: Come to these hands of mine, come to rest in our marriage bed. Bend your bow to the breaking point!
WOMAN 1: And the sphinx came crashing down, the virgin, claws hooked…
WOMAN 3: Who seizes more joy than just a dream?
WOMAN 1: Never expose a thing… This is obscene
WOMAN 3: I wanted the gods to clarify my duties.
They reach woman 2 and woman 1 puts her hand on her shoulder they all gasp then slowly caress each other’s arms from shoulder to wrist in one slow movement.
WOMAN 1: I have been saved for something great and terrible, something strange.
WOMAN 3: Permit me, would you? Just to touch you with my hands? Please, my king…
WOMAN 1: You’ll get your wish at once.
They all turn and look up caressing their arms as they reach higher and higher.
WOMAN 2: And he rose… And rose… And rose… He rose to power. Who could behold his greatness without envy? (GASP)
All: Not I.
Scene 11: A Future in Ashes Part Two
ALL: A FUTURE IN ASHES PART TWO
[WOMAN 2 (confused, distressed) wanders aimlessly, pacing back and forth on audience strip; she appears to be in a daze, carrying the bundle. WOMAN 1 (curious) sits on the isolated platform, knocking the brooches against the wood, them bringing them to hear ear, as if they’ll tell her something, she is searching for something she has lost. WOMAN 3 (romantic) sways back and forth, waltzing with the sash, on left raised-platform.]
WOMAN 2: Something strange… Worth remarking, perhaps.
WOMAN 1: Unknown to mother and father, he had reached his prime.
WOMAN 3: He flashed before my eyes!
WOMAN 2: Hardly worth the anxiety I gave it…
WOMAN 1: Watching the pilot of the vessel go to pieces.
WOMAN 3: He was swarthy… I stand revealed at last.
WOMAN 2: Take me away; it’s time.
WOMAN 1: [Inspecting the brooches, holding them up to the light.] What will you bring to birth? Some new sacrifice? The fruits of our famous earth.
WOMAN 3: The wild hymn from seabirds blazes out, radiant as the kindness in his eyes!
WOMAN 2: Drive me out of the land at once, far from sight…
WOMAN 1: If you love your own life, you must see the truth at last.
WOMAN 3: [Hugging the sash to her breast, closing her eyes.] I want the best for you, though it costs a little sorrow in the bargain.
WOMAN 2: I’m afraid that from this silence, something monstrous will come bursting
forth…
WOMAN 1: The very one we’ve looked for all along… I recognize him. [Puts broaches down on platform, walks offstage.]
WOMAN 3: A trusty stranger, if there ever was one!
WOMAN 2: The moons have marked me out, my blood-brothers. Dreadful, what you’ve done…
[WOMAN 1 comes back onstage, kneeling in front of WOMAN 3.]
WOMAN 3: Nothing could bring me such joy... I only wish you had known. Have you lost respect for all human feelings? [WOMAN 2 leaves bundle at the feet of WOMAN 3, and walks offstage.]
WOMAN 1: What horrors you will hear, what you will see… I have terrible news.
WOMAN 3: [We hear music. Woman 2 walks across the stage in the same manner as the two others before her. The baby emanates light. Woman 2 walks to woman 3 and instead of leaving the baby on a rock, she holds it out to woman 3. ]
Another time, perhaps.
[Woman 2 drops the baby and leaves it where it lies]
Woman 2: What do you think I came for, majesty?
Woman 1: So you’d come home and I’d be better off.
Woman 3: The making of silk is an exciting and demanding process. The most prized silk
is obtained from a special type of silkworm, one that comes from the Bombyx
mori moth.
Woman 3 and woman 2 switch places
Woman 2: No more, sweep it from your mind forever. Are you alright?
Woman 1: Unless it’s forbidden for other ears to hear. Are you alright?
Woman 3: (continuing to play with sash) It is a moth that cannot fly and cannot see. Its
only purpose in life is to lay eggs to produce the next generation of silkworms. It
is very difficult to hatch these eggs.
Woman 2: your best is more than I can bear. Your heart, does it s till ache?
Woman 1: Old shepherd talk, empty nonsense, don’t give it another thought. Your
thoughts, do they still haunt you?
Woman 3: The eggs must be kept at a specific temperature to hatch properly. The worms
must be fed every half hour. They need a very stable environment without loud
noises, or strong smells.
Woman1 starts to tie the sash into a noose. Woman 3 and woman 2 get down on their knees as if begging.
Woman 1: I pitied the little baby master. Are you angry with me?
Woman 2: You are my great example, you, your life, your destiny. Are you relieved?
Woman 3: When the cocoon looks like a little white fluffy ball. The worms inside are
killed because they have now completed the job they were meant to do. The
cocoon from one silkworm can be one continuous thread 1600 yards long. I find
this amazing.
Woman 2 and Woman 3 turn and face the other way
Woman3: (standing on a platform and fixing the noose above her) Is it any wonder that silk is strong? The
process is painstaking.
Woman 2 and Woman 3 start walking away, lights start to fade.
Woman 2 and Woman 1: Now I weep like a man who wails the dead and the dirge
comes pouring forth with all my heart!
Woman 2: I tell you the truth, you gave me life.
Woman 3: My breath leapt up in you.
Woman 2 and Woman 3: And now you bring down night upon my eyes.
[Woman 3 prepares to hang herself but the lights suddenly go off before we see her do it]
All: We couldn’t watch her agony to the end
Our eyes were fixed on him
END
