Oedipus Act 1.

OEDIPUS REX NEW

A play based on Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”

© Eso A. B., 2014

Act One
(King Oedipus comes to the stage through the courtyard gate. He approaches the altar, the priest, his daughter Ismene, and all who are gathered around. He embraces and kisses Prince Geon.)

Chorus:

Savior! Savior!

Blessed by Your Name

in song without end.

King Oedipus:

My children, my sons, my daughters,
Citizens of Thebes,
why do you listen

to a priest write words so strange

that no one understands their meaning?
Why are you so sad?
I’ve come to listen and learn.
What ails you?
Why are you listening to this frog?

(The King turns to the priest.)

You, with the long white shirt
—I don’t know your name—
You’ve ribbited and croaked long enough
of congregations long vanished.

Why do you disturb

men and women of the wood,
all proud cityzens of Thebes now?
Speak to me
on behalf of those not used to addressing a King.
What do they fear?

What do they want?

Priest:
King of Thebes, King Odipus!
Archpriest Tiresias bade me come

to speak to young and old,
Thebans all.

See, oh King, 
we are bent around the altar,
we are presenting our offerings, our gifts:
bread soaked in honey,
honeyed bits of cheese, and fruit.
We await the Gods.

But no Spirits come.

We can wait no longer,
lest clouds of wasps and flies

add their sting 
to our fears.
There are murmurings, King Oedipus,
that Artemis, Mother Earth, 
is sending forth

toads croaking for the blood
of our congregation;
perhaps the blood of our children
—as in the times when

not even a dozen sacred whores

with their arses high and heads low,

all bent to welcome insatiable John,

could move the God to listen.

Look, O King Oedipus!
The air does not move.
We wait for the incense to rise and curl
as when a spirit is present.
Instead we smell

burnt fur 
and our ears hear silent ridicule.

O King, our prayers speak our fears.
King Oedipus, call the Gods;
call our great-grandfather Cadmus;
raise your hands to the Sun,
speak loving words.

Chorus:

Many years ago you brought us better days.
You freed us from the curse of the Sphinx.
You cleared the sacred wood of sinister thickets,
where we abandoned our babes and the old,
who had followed the flag

of jugglers and piping dancers.

The poor 
weary from walking
miles of mountain roads

fell asleep yet on their feet.
Some were overcome
by panic.

We, guardians of children 
and sacred trees alike,

too, fell by the roadsides from exhaustion

and pain of heart.

Though we prayed,
we prayed without hope
until you came and saved us,

O Savior, Oedipus!

Because of you we no longer fear

dark tales about wolves.
Because of you
our children no longer swing their arms
trusting they can fly across any abyss
we thrust them into.
Because of you, Savior,

we no longer dream of vultures
with faces like that of angels 
on blue wing
raising everyone 
smiling from the dead.
King Oedipus, Savior 
of our children then,
we’ve suffered a stroke 
to our will again.

No one smiles, no one laughs.
We beg you,

Savior of children and all,

to speak to our congregation again
with power that saves.
Don’t hold back your healing hands
or endearing words.
Don’t let anyone say 
 you promised us light,
yet a dark shadows return.

King Oedipus::
Dear citizens of Thebes, my children,
your hope gives me hope.
I know your pain.

I am of flesh like you.

However, you surely know

that I suffer more.
I suffer misfortunes of my own
as well as the misfortunes of Thebes.

Like you, I, too, have children,
I give them much thought
and believe
I know

where to look and find the answer.

I’ve sent Prince Creon,

the Hercules of loggers,
brother of Queen Iocasta,

and auditioner of thousands

of reindeer bleats,
a man bound by painful oaths.
You surely know 
thats honesty is a tax collector’s                             .
invention for failure
to render tax collectors
their due.

This very moment
Creon is visiting 
the Sun's holy temples,
and consults with the priestesses of the Sun.
All throw acorns
struck from oaks by lightning

and have been moldering 
in wait of the occasion.
This very moment
the priesteses read 
by the lay of the acorn's fall
what we must do to save Thebes.

Priest:
The guards in the tower signal
Prince Creon has returned.

King Oedipus:
With good news, I hope.

Priest:
The news is good.
Prince Creon comes
with a smile on his face.

King Oedipus:
We’ll soon know.
.... Here he is.
Greetings, Prince!

(Enter Prince Creon.)

Prince Creon:
Hail, King Oedipus!
How hails Thebes?
King, I have an urgent message for you.

Let the servants dust my sandals.

Then let us go to your chambers,
where I can rest my feet
and tell all I have learned.

King Oedipus:
Prince, do not wait to speak.
Speak here, now.
We’re all anxious to hear
what must be done to heal?

Prince Creon:
The Sun wants deeds not words.

If I tell Her revelations without regard,
it may bring some to rash conclusions,
others perhaps to rash deeds.

King Oedipus:
What revelations, what deeds?
We need no mystery.
What is the message?

Prince Creon (whispers):

The Sun’s maids send you

in lieu of reindeer fur
a sack full of gold.

King Oedipus:
It is no secret

that our cityzens welcome gifts.
Gold has a heavenly shine.
 

Nevertheless,
do not delay.

Tell us what you know.
What did the Sun's maids tell you?

Tell us.
All Thebes suffers one pain.

Prince Creon (reluctantly):
Remember that government

is of the righteousness of a King
without fault.
No one must be in doubt.
Therefore, what you hear

isn’t told by me,
but was told me
by the maids of the Sun.

With their ears licked clean 
of holy nectar
by the larva of bees,
the maids said:

"Go weed the weed

before its roots sink to depths,

whence we no longer can uproot it.
Only a hand with four fingers

has the power to do it.

King Oedipus:
What weeds are you talking about?

Who is born with four fingers?
Harvest time has come and gone..
Weeding time is past.

Prince Creon:
The weed, King Oedipus, is a man.
We must find a man
and remove him

from the midst of our cityzens.
The Sun didn’t give his name.
That is for us to discover.
Else Thebes will be in debt to a murderer.

His roots like that of a lilac

will sprout upward.

The odor of the King

will turn stink.

King Oedipus:
A murderer? Who?

Prince Creon:
King Oedipus,

it is not a secret to you

that before you came to Thebes,
we were governed by King Laius.
He was son of King Cadmus,
the founder of Thebes,

whose cowardly sons,

Otus and Ephialtes, 
cowered and failed

to sacrifice their little fingers

for the sake of Thebes.

Therefore, Cadmus put his own

finger between the Dragon’s teeth,
thereby gaining the right

to restore harmony 

by cutting off the right arms 
of his twins.

King Oedipus:
I know of this King, but never met him.

I am told he blinded himself
out of  grief! 
When his sons

mistook each other for a reindeer

and with their spears 
struck themselves not the deer.
 
Where should we look for the murderer?
Have you seen his footprints?
What evidence will lead us to him?

Prince Creon:
We have to look in our own land.
We must overlook the shadows cast by words,
but must look at deeds.
It is deeds alone that tell what happened.

We must look for a man 
with five fingers.

King Oedipus (folding his hands one into the other):
Did King Oedipus die in his castle?
I have heard that king Laius died traveling 
through another land,

in a wood.

I have heard rumours 
that a man

reluctant to kill his reindeer for taxes 
killed him

Prince Creon:
The king had an appointment
with certain men bringing him secrets
from a neighboring kingdom.

They met in the wood.
The king never returned.

All his bodyguards,

all honest tax collectors,

all sworn to support our holy empire
were killed, 
but one.

King Oedipus:
Secret meetings in the wood are risky.
What said the survivor?
Can he identify the perpetrators,
the traitors?
How many were there?

Creon Prince:
The man gave no clear answer.
He said he saw our king laid to his rest
in a wild boar’s muddy wallow
with but leafy branches
to cover his sacred body.
He told that he could lead us 
to the remains.
But he was poisoned
before we could tell you
his secret. 

Thus, no roots of sacred tree
stich Laius’s remains
to Mother Artemis
as ancient custom calls for.

The king's ghost moans 
in the wind at night.

King Oedipus:
That means the murderers

have friends among us.
Did the man have a wife?
We need some clue.

Prince Creon:
The man had no wife.
He left no descendants.
He worked as a hand at the king’s stable
and left no inheritance 
other than the clay dork
he used to pleasure the kitchen maids with.

King Oedipus:

Was Laius’ bodyguard of impotent men?

Prince Creon:
We tried to follow the murderers’ tracks,
But they had sheathed

the hooves of their reindeer in rags.
They left no marks.

King Oedipus:
I’m grateful to the Sun
for Her advice.
I’m thankful, Prince Creon, for the news.

My children, take your garlands

And return to your homes.
Call a Council of our Elders.

Tell their King wishes to consult with them.

The men who killed King Laius 
are a threat to us all.
I will do all I can to discover them.
The government and citizens of Thebes
must be protected.

Priest:
Rise, Thebans.
Our prayers have been heard.
King Oedipus will save us as surely

as his forebears laid Thebes foundations.

(Exit King Oedipus et al. Only the Chorus remains.)

Strophe:
Goddess of Hope!
Tell us the words writ

on the roof of the cupola
over the sylvan well in the deeps of the wood.
Let the flickering light writ on hammered gold

shed blessings on Thebes.

Dear Sun, comfort our uneasy hearts.
We are much relieved to be free
of the need  
to sacrifice our children
and are free of the curse
to kill ourselves in their place.

Hail King Oedipus.

The King has released us 
of our paralysis!
He did us a service once,

he will save us again.

Antistrophe:
It was said that after the Sphinx
was driven from the wood,
her priest issued a curse:

“Men, women, and King”, he shouted,
“will have to sacrifice themselves 
for letting children live!"

Remember what King Cadmus said?
“Only when we are ready
to sacrifice our little finger,
and throw it 
between standing armies
and have them stare at it 
only then
will they begin to taunt each other 
of cowardice long enough
to fall prey
to their own swords.
Only then will war
become a healing force.”

Strophe:
The charisma of sacrifice will unite us
in a history worth blessing.”

Antistrophe:
Ha! Spare us!
Today our children roam foreign lands.
and relish losing themselves 
in crowds.
Become anonymous,
they have no responsibilities.
They act with boldness
that is never held to account.
They will defend to the end
the rights of their little finger.
They say they need all their fingers
if they are to grow rich.

Strophe:
Our teeth chatter like the beaks of storks.
We fear the other side of the moon
is crisscrossed by blood.