Scene 5 of 8, ACT II
UNDER SIEGE
same place and could possibly run without break, perhaps with only a lighting change.
AT RISE: The rampart above, throne area in a courtyard below.
TIME: 316 B.C., Late Winter, Before Daybreak
PLACE: Besieged in a castle in Pydna [Modern; Kitros], near the sea
(Olympias is on the rampart, looking out.to the sea in the east, SL, and Mount Olympus to the southm DS. Timaeus, Thessalonike, Deïdameia, Sophia, Pothos, Demarete, and Ephthalia sit on the risers above the orchestra.)
DEÏDAMEIA
O lord of all the gods, extend your ear to hear my
plea to quench the vengeful flame! Consuming
innocents without a tear, she rules upon her son’s
most famous name.
THESSALONIKE
She rules these frosted stones.
TIMAEUS
Absent arms, horse, foot, and generals, she rules
the dead and almost dead.
SOPHIA
Devoid of reason, she does not rule herself.
DEÏDAMEIA
Is it fair to say, we are wanting a proper head of
state?
THESSALONIKE
Which only a man can properly execute.
SOPHIA
As long as there is rule by the means of men,
murder, assassination, execution, war and above all,
plunder, power and pomp.
(Timaeus grumbles in protest at that.
Olympias paces.)
OLYMPIAS
Alexander, my son, my Alexander–
(A pause.)
OLYMPIAS
(continuing)
Never to return!
(looking over the edge)
The corpses in the canyon below reek of rot. The
carrion birds gorge themselves all day and night.
A stench to us is their celebration. Their noise is
frolic. To me, the noise of mocking stagnation
besieging us.
OLYMPIAS
(continuing)
Mothers dying before their children is life stood on
its head.
(Roxanê enters and takes a seat in front
of the skene, below where Olympias
walks above.)
OLYMPIAS
(continuing; to Roxanê)
Sons care for old mothers. Where is Alexander?
ROXANÊ
Sleeping. He is so weak.
The irony of that response is not wasted on Olympias.
SOPHIA
Olympias! Greece calls her Olympias, the Queen! Look
at her now!
THESSALONIKE
Wife no more! Intoxicated only from the memories of her frenzies.
SOPHIA
Mighty ruler of Macedonia, no more.
THESSALONIKE
Mother of Alexander, no more. Her theatrical statements long past.
DEÏDAMEIA
Her royal line down from Heracles, looking over the
precipice to oblivion, one step from the end of the
line.
OLYMPIAS
(ranting above)
By my son I am killed twice. His march to explore
for war ranged far, never to return. The body gone
to Egypt, forever. I ache to hold him once again.
The embrace for a mother’s son is lost.
OLYMPIAS
(continuing; pointing to Olympus DS)
Ye gods there shrouded in Olympian mist, avenge Alexander dead by murder!
SOPHIA
There, you hear? What blindness! Attalus knows. The Great King of Asia died of disease in ten days in Babylon. She is
contradicted and ruined because she maintains a falsehood against Iollus, son of Antipater, brother of Cassander, and cupbearer to Alexander. If she had truly deliberated, she may have preserved herself from her anguish.
OLYMPIAS
(to the sea, SL)
Never to return. His tale scratched by his hand gone
dead. A mother’s slimmest tie is snipped. By the poison of his cup-bearer, commanded by Antipater!
Twice I have died.
SOPHIA
Poison!? She is poisoned by treacherous Ate, most
hated of all the gods.
OLYMPIAS
(She looks over the wall at the birds wheeling and squawking
over carrion below.)
This siege is broken. I am taken. My ship, taken.
OLYMPIAS
(continuing; shouting to the Ladies below the rampart)
Escape impossible! Cassander, twisted brood of
Antipater, has me. And you as well!
(In a rage, a furious walk back and
forth, robes flying.)
ROXANÊ
(to the Ladies)
Sitting beside Alexander, I was the queen of all
Asia, and of all Hellas. To you, I am the barbarian,
the Asian, more servile than Hellenes and all
Europeans. That may be. But my son is the future
ruler of Hellas, inheritor of Alexander’s power. I
will not resist the tyrant out there, but our day
will come. They dare not touch us. We are safe here,
my precious boy and I.
THESSALONIKE
I do not know about grandmother. Though she has been
kind to them.
OLYMPIAS
Hunger and desperate want everywhere. The elephants
rumble, the lions come out at night and feed on those
dead down there and fight and growl and tear at one
another. And it is bitter cold, too cold for our
rags to warm. Polyperchon, my dear, sweet Poly! Out
there, somewhere! Bring to me your glorious face,
and arms, and turn this fatal siege around.
SOPHIA
Thus here, our Queen! She aches to cry of her lot.
Against the iron grip of the Fates, she struggles.
We will learn from her practice, from this high-born lady, daughter, wife, and dam of kings, who trembles!
DEMARETE
Thus did Lachesis dispense her lot in life.
POTHOS
Is she worthy of honor, the prize for the noblest deeds?
EPHTHALIA
Does she wear her pride as the crown of virtues?
Does she bear herself with moderation toward good or
evil fortune?
DEÏDAMEIA
Her king perverted Aphrodite’s touch, with the deadly
scorns of infidelities.
SOPHIA
She bewails her lot. I starve to death for her lot.
THESSALONIKE
What bitter root have we put in the water to make it
taste safe. We are starving for grace under threat.
SOPHIA
Themis has been disregarded. The good order of what
is right and just to keep the peace has been
transgressed. And we are complicit in her rage.
DEÏDAMEIA
She is our woe by some twist of fate.
THESSALONIKE
It was said: “Never permit woman to hold first place
in the kingdom.”
SOPHIA
That twist, she was made guardian of the kings! My o my,
how embittered we’ve become, against our friend!
DEMARETE
Well, what’s to do but sit around among dead elephants and commiserate. And with her!
DEÏDAMEIA
The elephants are tough to eat, and the hide is too heavy to wear, and it doesn’t bend well when its frozen.
DEMARETE
I’ve watched the lions go at it. They’d rather eat horse.
THESSALONIKE
Her wine doesn’t freeze, but now it’s gone.
(Thessalonike climbs up the stairs to
join Olympias on top.)
OLYMPIAS
And Eumenes, my dear friend, Eumenes, great general,
Eumenes, why are you not here? The thin, faded faces
of my friends about me–
(She embraces Thessalonike. Timaeus,
Demarete, Deïdameia, Sophia, and Pothos
gather around below, looking up to her.)
OLYMPIAS
(continuing)
–suffer a terrible hunger, dying in torment.
(breaking away, looking east)
Eumenes, you must come, savior, companion, faithful,
venerable aide to me, to my son. Darken the sea with
ships! Slay my pursuer, that foul Cassander!
TIMAEUS
Every pass is closed, and ringed round by engines of
war. All joined to Cassander. All seems lost. We are
abandoned.
OLYMPIAS
We die, dear Poly. We die, Eumenes. You must come.
Must come. Are we forgotten here?
(Four hooded men [#1-Euxenippus, #2-
Hecataeus, #3-Gorgias, #4-Gorgatus] in
rags come on, carrying two bodies, and
climb the stairs to the rampart level.
Olympias inspects the bodies. She
covers her nose, turns away. The men go
to the edge and dump the bodies over
the wall. Carrion birds squawk and
wheel over the feast below. The men
look over the edge.)
MAN#1/EUXENIPPUS
Ow, that hurts my head.
MAN#4/GORGATUS
Not as much as it hurts him.
MAN#3/GORGIAS
Just meat. Like the others, the cavalry’s horses, pack animals, or the elephants down there.
MAN#4/GORGATUS
Good thing we don’t have to carry THEM up here.
MAN#1/EUXENIPPUS
They ate sawdust and died.
MAN#3/GORGIAS
So we can eat.
MAN#2/HECATAEUS
(groaning)
What’s left is still too heavy.
MAN#4/GORGATUS
Their hide stinks.
MAN#1/EUXENIPPUS
The reek does not defeat hunger.
(They carry their dirge down the steps,
exit DR. Olympias suddenly looks
horrified, pointing up, giving a
muffled scream, tracing the three dark
shadows that alight on a portion of the
castle above the parapeted rampart,
a spooky LIGHTING EFFECT, accompanied by a
SOUND EFFECT screech, and a pop-up PROP
that might have a very slight
animation of something like three
vultures. Probably three birds alighting,
suggesting her hallucination.)
OLYMPIAS
Shades of Hades, come to drink the blood?
(The Ladies gape at her, taking no note of
what she may be seeing.)
THESSALONIKE
Ominous! Ominous!
DEÏDAMEIA
Black birds screaming to have that piece of flesh.
SOPHIA
One furious to have it all.
(Olympias continues to gape at, and
shrink from, the shapes perched above.)
POTHOS
An omen! What does it mean?
TIMAEUS
Her fear flies above the stench.
(Two soldiers [#1-Attalus, #2-
Euxenippus] in rags and furs, carry a
body up the steps to the wall and heave
it over the edge. They watch it fall
over the side and snicker at how it
falls and sprawls below.)
SOLDIER#1/ATTALUS
Some NOT GREEK eat the flesh of the dead.
SOLDIER#2/EUXENIPPUS
But only those they do not know.
SOLDIER#1/ATTALUS
HO! There goes a good meal for them.
(They go down, snickering. One soldier,
#2, comes to her with a bone with
scraps of meat on a platter. She
recoils from it, and he sets it on the
table below.)
OLYMPIAS
(to the soldier)
Send a messenger to treat for terms. We will appeal
to Cassander.
(She waves them off. Thessalonike moves
closer to the rampart to watch them.
She sees the men go through the castle
gate, down a path and into the arms of
the besieging forces. She reports.)
THESSALONIKE
There are several men going. No! There are many
leaving.
(In the following, they are received
well. Their shouts of joy are heard.
Olympias recoils in disgust. She moves
down the stairs to level 2, to join
Roxanê. Thessalonike follows the action
outside the castle walls, with
accompanying sounds in the distance,
and reports it.)
THESSALONIKE
(continuing)
