The Puppet Oresteia (2008)

[The Puppet Oresteia]

Contents:


I – Iphigenia
or: Happy Families

[Iphigenia in Tauris]

Prologue (in front of the curtain)
Cassandra:
Chorus 1 - Cursed with prophecy

Scene 1: The Palace at Mycenae
(a bedroom off the garden): Iphigenia & Orestes

Cassandra:
Chorus 2 - I ran through the wood

Scene 2: The Seashore at Aulis [calm]
(in front of the bach): Agamemnon & Calchas

Cassandra:
Chorus 3 - Little girl lost

Scene 3: The Seashore at Aulis [calm]
(inside the bach): Calchas & Iphigenia

II – Cassandra
or: Payback is a Bitch

[Greek Girl with Dove]

Cassandra:
Chorus 4 - Joy lives with those

Scene 1: The Palace at Mycenae
(the master bedroom): Aegisthus & Clytemnestra

Cassandra:
Chorus 5 - Cursed with second sight

Scene 2: The Palace at Mycenae
(a guest bedroom off the garden): Agamemnon & Cassandra

Cassandra:
Chorus 6 - See how Apollo

Scene 3: The Palace at Mycenae
(outdoor jacuzzi): Aegisthus, Clytemnestra & Orestes

III – Orestes
or: Never say Never

[Flaxman: Clytemnestra]

Cassandra:
Chorus 7 - The labour pains

Scene 1: The Seashore at Tauris [stormy]
(on the beach): Orestes & Pylades

Cassandra:
Chorus 8 - There she goes

Scene 2: The Seashore at Tauris [calm]
(in front of the bach): Iphigenia & Thoas

Cassandra:
Chorus 9 - Drops of holy water

Scene 3: The Seashore at Tauris [calm]
(inside the bach): Iphigenia, Orestes & Pylades

Epilogue
Cassandra:
Chorus 10 - Noise is like flame

[J. M. Barrie, "Mary Rose" (1920)]

Oresteia - Chorus (10)

[Neanderthal girl]

Cassandra:

Noise is like flame
the only way
to fill

our emptiness
When it grows loud
the soul is overwhelmed

by quiet
Maybe noise
is all we have

lighting
& extinguishing
our faith

in death
When life is silent
we fear to feel

Except for noise
we dare not admit chaos
nothing

noise

[Sampled from Yao Liya [Yulia], "Noise" (22/4/08)]

[Michael Cacoyannis: Iphigenia (1977)]

Oresteia - Chorus (9)

[J. H. W. Tischbein: "Iphigenia recognises her brother"]

Cassandra:

Drops of holy water
mixed with blood
I cannot pity you

but farewell
stranger
friend

You’ll tread
your native shore
before me

My city was destroyed
& fate forced me to sail
brought by their oars

their spears
to this dark land
to serve

the servant
of the hunter goddess
tend her altars

where no sheep are sacrificed

[Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris: ll. 645-55; 1110-15].

[Caridad Svich: "Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart" (2004)]

Oresteia - Chorus (8)

[Iphigenia & Orestes]

Cassandra:

There she goes
a simple girl
like me

to look at
my city’s
nemesis

teeny-bopper
dark hair
ponytail

a girl
who wouldn’t stain
the bedsheets

of the thirsty
goddess
with her maiden

blood
instead
she snuck off

here

[Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis: ll. 1520-31]

[Image source]

Oresteia - Chorus (7)

[Adolphe Bouguereau: "The Remorse of Orestes" (1862)]

Cassandra:

The labour pains
of prophecy
possess me

once again
See those creatures
squatting on

the house?
Dark shapes
like children

murdered
by their parents
trading bites

of their own
flesh
the tainted meal

your father tasted
Revenge
is on its way

They’re after you

[Aeschylus, Agamemnon: ll.1215-25].

[Image source]

Oresteia - Chorus (5)

[Cassandra captured by Ajax]

Cassandra:

Cursed with second sight
I must recite
what’s coming

for us both
your deathmy death
the Asian chick

you've brought back
from abroad
the cookie-cutter

candy-sweet
you’re counting on
for love

Why can’t you see
it isn’t me
you need?

Nor is it only
me
who wants you

dead

[Caridad Svich: "Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart" (2004)]

Oresteia - Chorus (6)

[Clytemnestra kills Cassandra]

Cassandra:

See how Apollo
strips me
rips my robes

like my
so-called friends
at siege’s end

blaming me
for the burning towers
their ruined homes

but now at last
he’s finished
with me

no altar here
to cling to
a chopping block

instead
slaughtered
like a heifer

Just you wait

[Aeschylus, Agamemnon: ll.1265-80].

[John Collier: "Clytemnestra" (1882)]

Oresteia - Chorus (4)

[Claude Bovee, "The Sacrifice of Iphigenia"]

Cassandra:

Joy lives with those
who share their beds
with Aphrodite

not those who frolic
with her fucked-up
offspring

Eros
prone to pop a cap
in the best-regulated

arse
at the drop of a
you-know-what

Helen
for example
white-throated

Maenad
who left her
little girl

to bleed for us

[Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis: ll. 547-95].

[Fresco: "Sacrifice of Iphigenia" (Pompeii - 1st century AD)]

Oresteia - Chorus (3)

[from the House of the Tragic Poet (Pompeii)]

Cassandra:

Little girl lost
you are all hard
the sound of broken glass

jangling inside
You cy foul
you cry woe

torrid & disdainful words
Pain is your friend
your comforter

the place that you call home
Tell us the whispers
haunting you

Control & manipulation
are your Mummy
your Daddy

turmoil
embroiled emotions
& masses

of glass

[Acknowledgments to Angela Smith, whose texts "Sylvia, Poet – Sweet Sylvia" & "A Young Boy Sleeps" I've sampled from here].

[Jan Havicksz. Steen: "Het offer van Iphigenia" (1671)]

Oresteia - Chorus (2)

[The Hall at Aulis]

Cassandra:

I ran through the wood
scenting
new blood

eager to see
our army
tanks & planes

& ships & guns
Their job's
to bring her back

‘that fucking terrorist’
as Daddy calls her
who’s run off

with a man
again
Uncle Cal’s

in charge of cashflow
Colonel Killer
calls

the shots

[Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis: ll. 175-95].

[Philippe Chery, "Costume for Agamemnon" (1802)]

Oresteia - Chorus (1)

[Iphigenia at Aulis (2006)]

Cassandra:

Cursed with prophecy
I’m forced to see
what’s past & what’s to come

No-one ever listens, though
A father fucks
his stepdaughter

then gets cold feet
What if she talks?
He listens to his PR man

& plots to kill her
If news leaks out
then contracts

could be compromised
The trouble is
she’s not his daughter

but she is his wife’s
not her sister’s
her

by-blow

[Iphigenie]