Orestes- Blood and Light

by Helen Edmundson

  TYNDAREOS. Lies.

  ELECTRA. And I realised, I realised it suited you, perhaps, to have a son-in-law in power, a son-in-law you could control, / in thrall to you.

  TYNDAREOS. How dare you say so?

  ELECTRA. It is the truth. You use the law when it suits you, you harness it, you hide behind it, modify it.

  TYNDAREOS. Insolent wretch.

  MENELAOS. Be silent now, Electra.

  In another part of the palace the SLAVE begins to sing to the baby.

  ELECTRA. Your absolute law does not exist. It is timing and advantage. It is power. It is money. It is greed. /

  ORESTES. Oh, no. She is coming.

  ELECTRA. Only the Gods can know true justice.

  TYNDAREOS. You push me too far.

  MENELAOS. Enough.

  ORESTES. Leave me alone. Apollo, protect me.

  ELECTRA. How many of the men who sit on your assembly do so with clean, transparent souls? One in a hundred? And you are not the one. You are not the one.

  TYNDAREOS goes to strike ELECTRA. MENELAOS stops him.

  MENELAOS. No.

  TYNDAREOS. Get your hands off me. Off me.

  ELECTRA goes to ORESTES, who is shaking and blocking his ears against the sound of the singing.

  ORESTES. Let me be, I beg of you. My soul is gone already.

  ELECTRA. Orestes.

  ORESTES. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. What have I done to you?

  ELECTRA. Stop it, please.

  ORESTES. Stay away from me.

  TYNDAREOS (to MENELAOS). You would side with them, would you? Fight for them? Are they your chosen ones? The future of your line?

  The singing stops. Now, from outside the palace walls, the sound of a bell can be heard, ringing solemnly.

  (To MENELAOS.) The assembly is convening. If you oppose me in this, I will break you.

  MENELAOS. You dare to threaten me?

  TYNDAREOS. I am more than one man.

  MENELAOS. And I am Menelaos.

  TYNDAREOS. Who is Menelaos? Who is this man who has been gone so long? I want to know. The people want to know. This city is desperate now for leadership. Your city. Your city, Menelaos.

  (To ORESTES and ELECTRA.) Do you hear that? Murderers? That is the sound of your own death.

  He leaves.

  MENELAOS watches ORESTES and ELECTRA.

  ELECTRA. He needs to eat. He needs to sleep. That’s all. He needs so much to sleep.

  MENELAOS. Where is Apollo? Why does He allow this if he has done His bidding?

  ELECTRA. Apollo is here. He is watching us.

  MENELAOS. Is He?

  ELECTRA. You doubt Him?

  MENELAOS. I only wonder why He has abandoned him.

  ELECTRA. He has not abandoned us. He has brought us you.

  She looks at him – challenging him.

  Apollo didn’t say it would be easy. Since when have the Gods made things easy for us? You know that. You of all people, married to her. What need would we of faith if everything were easy?

  MENELAOS. You should learn to curb your tongue, Electra.

  ELECTRA. For when? So I can die demurely? So I can die a silent death today?

  MENELAOS holds her gaze for a few moments but then looks away. ORESTES begins to recover.

  ORESTES. What happened?

  ELECTRA. It’s all right. You’re all right now.

  ORESTES. This terror. This affliction.

  ELECTRA. It will pass.

  ELECTRA helps him to drink some water.

  ORESTES. Don’t be alarmed, Uncle. I am myself again.

  What are you thinking, Uncle?

  MENELAOS. I am thinking.

  ORESTES. They will be coming for us soon. There is very little time. Call your troops now. Surround the palace before it is too late.

  Uncle? You will help us?

  MENELAOS. Yes. Of course I must help you.

  ORESTES. For our father’s sake.

  MENELAOS. Yes.

  ORESTES. You have a child of your own now.

  MENELAOS. Why do you say that?

  ORESTES. Only because you must know now what it cost my father to sacrifice his child for you.

  MENELAOS. I understood that then. With or without a child.

  ORESTES. Not so much is being asked of you. Only that you save us. That you protect us now.

  MENELAOS. I have no troops. I have a dozen men with me, that’s all. Hardly enough to surround the palace. Not enough to defend it.

  ORESTES. No troops?

  MENELAOS. All my men are dead. Some in the earth. Some in the sea. Fallen away from me, one by one.

  ORESTES. No troops.

  MENELAOS. But even if they were all back with me, as they are in my dreams, I would not ask them to turn against the people.

  ORESTES. You wouldn’t have to. A show of strength from you and / they would back away.

  MENELAOS. Force is not the answer here. It was never going to be.

  ORESTES. There is no help then. We are lost.

  MENELAOS. No. Listen to me now, Orestes: I will speak to them. I will go to the assembly and I will speak to them.

  ORESTES. Speak to them? You will stand up and speak for us?

  MENELAOS. I will identify leaders of factions, whisper quiet words in their ears, well-timed words. I will win them to you.

  ORESTES. You can do that?

  MENELAOS. Yes. You’re very young and headstrong, it’s hard for you to understand. They will bluster, argue, fight amongst themselves and then, when all is uproar and confusion, then my quiet words will start to tell and I will push home my advantage.

  ORESTES. You can do that?

  MENELAOS. Yes. Trust me in this. Trust me.

  I should go now.

  ORESTES. Yes. Or it will be too late.

  MENELAOS. Will you be all right here?

  ORESTES. Yes.

  MENELAOS. I’ll come back with news for you. Good news.

  You’ll be all right, Electra?

  She doesn’t reply. MENELAOS starts to go. He hesitates.

  I’ll send more water for you. I’ll send food.

  ORESTES. Thank you.

  MENELAOS. I think that would be best. Yes. I think this is best.

  MENELAOS leaves.

  ORESTES. Hope. Hope is like the sun. Simple I know, but it’s true. The sun has come out inside me.

  Come here.

  He embraces ELECTRA.

  We are not alone. We are not alone now.

  When the water comes, let’s wash. We’ll wash away these tears, these frowns. And when we are clean, let’s kneel and pray to Apollo. Lets give Him thanks. Ask Him to send our uncle all the strength he needs.

  ELECTRA. He won’t help us.

  ORESTES. It will be hard, it’s true. But he is a great man, long respected. The people do not forget a man like that. He is a legend.

  ELECTRA. The kind of man they would want to lead them. The kind of man who could rule from this palace, with his wife and child beside him. Better than the matricides, the filthy children, the mad children.

  ORESTES. What are you talking about?

  ELECTRA. He won’t help us. He doesn’t want to help us.

  ORESTES. No. No. No Electra. He will help us. He will do everything he can for us. It’s hard for you to believe in him, I know. Hard for you to believe in anyone, you lived so long amongst dishonour and deceit.

  ELECTRA. And learnt the way of things.

  ORESTES. No. No. There are some good men, Electra. Good people. Men like our father, honourable to the end. The man I found you with – the peasant – you told me he was good. He never lied to you, did he? He kept his word to you. When he swore he wouldn’t touch you, did he ever break his oath?

  ELECTRA. No.

  ORESTES. And the men that I grew up with, who raised me, they weren’t great men but they were good. Open, honest men.

  ELECTRA. Menelaos is not an open, honest man; Menelaos is a politician.

  ORESTES. He is a soldier. A hero. He is
our father’s brother, made from the same stuff. He knows what duty is. What honour is.

  ELECTRA. He will go and speak to them, pretend to try, say a few words to him or him, but when he meets with opposition he will let himself be beaten down, ruefully, politely, so as not to make enemies.

  ORESTES. You’re wrong. He will do the right thing. His conscience will dictate that.

  ELECTRA. His conscience? I’m not sure that his conscience will trouble him too much. A man who took the whole city to war for the sake of his pride, who took away a generation and came back with twelve men. A man like that must keep his conscience at his heel like a well-trained dog.

  ORESTES. Stop it.

  He moves away from her.

  ELECTRA. I’m sorry. I don’t want to be the one to crush your hopes. But you have to know. You have to see. I want you to be ready. We were ready before. Before he came. We can be ready again. Orestes. Please believe what I say.

  He turns to her.

  ORESTES. Everything is going to be all right. Everything. Dear, dear Electra. You have cared for me, helped me.

  ELECTRA. And I will always do so.

  ORESTES. I couldn’t have asked for a nurse more gentle, a braver nurse. But now I am going to care for you. And everything will be all right.

  I will go to the assembly myself.

  ELECTRA. What?

  ORESTES. I will watch Menelaos, listen to him, and when the time is right, I will help him. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.

  ELECTRA. You can’t go.

  ORESTES. Why should he have to speak for us? It’s our fate they are deciding. I am a man. I’ll show them that.

  ELECTRA. You can’t go.

  ORESTES. I’m not the cringing, broken boy they’ve heard about. I am Agamemnon’s son.

  ELECTRA. If you leave here now they will attack you on the streets.

  ORESTES. No. No one will dare to harm me until the sentence has been passed. They are law abiding people, I can depend on that. And even the most unruly amongst them would hesitate to touch me now that Menelaos is back.

  ELECTRA. You can’t go. I won’t let you go.

  ORESTES. What have I to lose?

  ELECTRA. They’ll hurt you. / They’ll take you away from me.

  ORESTES. If I can help Menelaos in any way I can, then I must do it.

  ELECTRA. They’ll take you away.

  ORESTES. Surely you must see that?

  ELECTRA. What if I am right? What if he doesn’t mean to help us?

  ORESTES. You’re not right.

  ELECTRA. I’m coming with you then.

  ORESTES. No.

  ELECTRA. Yes.

  ORESTES. No. It’s safer for you here.

  ELECTRA. What if you need me? You’re not well. What if the madness comes again?

  ORESTES. It won’t. Because I’m not afraid anymore. I’m not alone anymore.

  ELECTRA. You never were alone.

  ORESTES. No. I know. I didn’t / mean that.

  ELECTRA. I’ll come with you and we’ll stand together. We’ll show them we’re together in this / and in everything.

  ORESTES. No. They wouldn’t let you into the assembly. If you tried to speak it would be seen as contempt. We can’t infuriate them.

  ELECTRA. So that’s what I am now. Your liability. That’s it now. The ludicrous female who threatens to make you blush in front of your peers. You are a man now and what am I? What am I?

  Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

  ORESTES. Electra, it will be almost over. Give this to me, please. Please. Stay here and wait for me.

  ELECTRA. I can’t.

  ORESTES. You can.

  ELECTRA. No.

  ORESTES. And I will come back. Very soon. With Menelaos. And everything will be all right.

  ELECTRA. Please don’t do this.

  ORESTES. This is not the last day. Yes?

  ELECTRA. Yes.

  He leaves. ELECTRA listens to the door closing. After a few moments she rushes to the door as if she would follow him. But she stops herself.

  I was not born right.

  Where is my woman’s patience? Where is that benignity that’s meant to be inside me, that’s meant to ease these waiting, waiting torments?

  Don’t leave me here.

  Or do they learn it, my clever sisters, is there some trick, some knack, some anaesthetic of the heart that no one ever taught to me? Wait here Electra, wait here Electra. Wait for your father, wait for your lover, wait for your brother. I will go mad.

  Orestes.

  What will I do if he doesn’t come back?

  What if he is dead already?

  What if he was wrong and they set upon him, tear him down before he has a chance to speak? There are some hard-edged men in that assembly, supporters of Aigisthos who wanted him to rule, with my mother as his puppet consort – men who came to dine here late at night, who drank and looked me up and down, they would not hesitate to kill him on the spot, revenge for their friend, the chance of power for any one of them.

  What if he is dead?

  What if they leave me waiting here? What if they make me die alone? What if they make me live, go on living year after year, a shamed life, a barren life, waiting for death? Waiting.

  I want Orestes. I want my brother. I want him with me.

  I am too like my mother. I am all my mother and none of my father. It is her blood, her blood that rages in my veins.

  (To the mirror.) Look at us. Your hot, triumphant eyes staring back at me. May the Gods damn you for what you’ve done to me.

  The SLAVE enters. She is holding the baby and has brought some food and water. She places it down.

  Thank you.

  SLAVE. You are welcome.

  The SLAVE starts to go.

  ELECTRA. Wait. Are you afraid of me?

  SLAVE. I am afraid of no one. I fear only the Gods.

  ELECTRA. They make you serve and yet you do it gently, graciously – how do you do that?

  SLAVE. All of us are humble servants. Nothing more.

  ELECTRA. They make you serve and yet you sing. I have heard you.

  SLAVE. I was taught to take my pain and make a thing of beauty. My song frees my soul. It takes me back to my country, to my family, to each child they made me leave behind.

  ELECTRA. The baby – they make you feed her when you must hate her and wish it was your own child in your arms. You must want to kill her, even as she sucks, fill her mouth too full with milk, suffocate her in the night, drop her, trample her. Tell me that you feel those things.

  SLAVE. I love her, this child. I love her because she is not mine. The Gods say it is the way to peace – to love what is not mine.

  ELECTRA. Your Gods must be very different from mine.

  SLAVE. Your Gods and my Gods, they are the same. We share the same Gods, you and I.

  She starts to leave again.

  ELECTRA. Wait. Stay with me. Please. I like to have you with me. May I see the baby?

  The SLAVE allows her to see.

  Hermione. My twice cousin. Almost my sister. Treasured child. Lucky child.

  I have no children. Nor ever will have, I suppose. But then she must have told you that – your mistress. Laughed at my virginity. Untouched . . .

  Sing to me. Sing to me and I will try to pray.

  The SLAVE sings. ELECTRA kneels and prays. After a few minutes the sound of the ringing bell can be heard. ELECTRA finishes her prayer.

  It’s over. Go and look, please. I can’t bear to. Watch for my brother. Tell me if he is coming back.

  The SLAVE goes out of the door.

  Apollo, great Apollo, don’t desert me, I beg of you. Bring him back to me, I beg of you. I beg of you.

  What’s that noise? People.

  The SLAVE returns.

  Is he there? What’s happening? Tell me.

  SLAVE. Your brother is coming.

  ELECTRA. He’s coming?

  The SLAVE nods.

  Alive? Is he alive? W
alking?

  SLAVE. Yes.

  ELECTRA. Thank you. Thank you. You are certain it is him?

  SLAVE. Your brother is coming. In his hands he holds two knives.

  ELECTRA. Knives?

  SLAVE. There are many people with him. They are weeping, moaning. They tear their hair.

  ELECTRA. Is Menelaos with him? Your master?

  ORESTES enters. He is holding two knives.

  ORESTES (to SLAVE). Get out of here.

  SLAVE starts to go.

  No, wait. Where is your master?

  SLAVE. I don’t / know, Sir.

  ORESTES. Is he here in the palace?

  SLAVE. No, Sir. I don’t / know, Sir.

  ORESTES. Is he hiding? Hiding under a bed? Crouching behind a chair like the coward that he is?

  The baby starts to cry.

  SLAVE. I don’t know, Sir, where he is. I stay with my mistress.

  ORESTES. Your mistress? Where is she?

  SLAVE. In her rooms, Sir.

  ORESTES. Doing what?

  SLAVE. I don’t know, Sir.

  ORESTES. Was she anxious? Did she seem afraid?

  SLAVE. No, Sir. She is happy today. She is smiling.

  ORESTES. Smiling. She is smiling.

  Leave us. Go.

  The SLAVE leaves.

  Two knives, Electra. One for me and one for you.

  She stares at them.

  ELECTRA. Two knives.

  ORESTES. We kill ourselves within the hour or they will come for us and they will take us out and stone us.

  ELECTRA. Menelaos?

  ORESTES. Didn’t come. You were right and you were wrong: he didn’t even pretend to try.

  No Menelaos. No justice. No help.

  ELECTRA. Within the hour.

  ORESTES. It was all but finished before I arrived. The decision almost made. A few last men were shouting against us, seizing their share of vitriolic glory. I did hear one man speak for us, a grey haired man with the wisest eyes who said they should all think of Agamemnon first, and what was done was done for him. He said we should be banished. Nothing more. But a hundred voices came back at him, all chanting ‘stone them, stone them’, and our grandfather chief amongst them, livid and red-faced, springing to his feet, his arm raised in the air. I stepped out before them and I spoke. They recoiled in horror, gawped at me as though I was already dead. But I was not afraid of them. I used the anger that had risen up inside me, my anger with Menelaos. I cried out that we had done Apollo’s will, that they should take their outrage and lay it at His feet. But they shouted me down, they drowned my words. A stone hit me hard on the head – here. But I did not buckle. I stood firm.