MEDEA

WHEN THE AUDIENCE ENTER, MEDEA IS PERCHED ON A ROCK, HUDDLED IN A SHAWL.

JASON IS WRAPPED IN A SHEET.

THE SOUND OF THE SEA.

MEDEA STIRS, THEN STANDS, UNCERTAIN WHERE SHE IS OR WHAT’S HAPPENING TO HER.

SHE CONVULSES, AS THOUGH IN LABOUR OR AS IF SUMMONING SOMETHING UP.

JASONS’ BODY IS WASHED UP FROM THE SEA.

JASON AND MEDEA SCREAM.

THE IMAGE OF THE BOYS APPEARS ON THE BACKCLOTH.

BOYS Mother.

Mother.

Why did you kill us mother?

Why did father leave us?

Don’t you love us mother?

Doesn’t father love us?

MEDEA Children.

BOYS We don’t understand mother.

You took away our lives.

We just wanted to live.

MEDEA Children.

BOYS We don’t understand.

Tell us.

Tell us again.

Perhaps this time we’ll understand.

Tell us again.

MEDEA I’ll tell you.

I’ll tell you again.

Listen.

Listen children

and try to understand.

It is your father’s wedding day.

Not my wedding day,

not your mother’s wedding day.

Your father’s wedding day.

While your father celebrates,

I am alone inside the house.

MEDEA GESTURES A SCREAM OF AGONY.

You, my children,

You are with your teacher – the man who taught you.

He sailed with your father to Colchis

he sailed with your father in the Argo

to win the Golden Fleece

but now that friendship is forgotten.

Your nurse

waits for you

outside the house.

You remember your nurse?

My old nurse.

Old and bent.

Waiting for you.

Outside the house.

Listen to what she has to say:

MEDEA BECOMES THE NURSE

NURSE What is to come?

Oh children

what is to come?

Jason, your father, siezes the Golden Fleece;

Medea, your mother, helps him win it;

for love of Jason your mother flees her father and her homeland;

for love of Jason your mother kills Pelias, King of Iolcus;

for love of Jason your mother joins him here in exile

here in Corinth.

The people of Corinth worship Medea –

an exotic princess from over the seas –

and Jason finds fame through his wife.

But now the marriage is broken.

Jason deserts his wife

deserts his children

takes to bed a new and younger bride,

the daughter of Kreon

King of Corinth.

Medea cries to the gods how Jason wrongs her.

She takes no food;

she takes no comfort

she cries the names

of her father and homeland,

which she betrayed when she fled with the man

who in turn has betrayed and abused her.

I fear my mistress.

I fear the violence in her soul,

I fear the workings of her mind.

I know my mistress.

I fear she’ll sharpen the knife

creep to the marriage bed

strike at the new-married bride

or the twice-married groom

and so bring misery to us all.

MEDEA And then you are there

my children

outside the house

cared for by your teacher.

JASON BECOMES THE TUTOR

TUTOR Hasn’t the crying finished?

NURSE The crying has only just started.

TUTOR There’s more cause for crying still to come.

NURSE What do you mean old man?

TUTOR Nothing. Nothing at all.

NURSE Don’t keep your news from me.

I’m one to trust.

TUTOR In the market

where people gather

to talk of the deeds of the powerful

I heard a person say

that Kreon the king will

exile the children

and their mother

from Corinth.

Whether this is true

I do not know.

I pray the rumour’s false.

NURSE But Jason,

how could he allow his children

to suffer exile?

Though he’d be glad

to see their mother sent away.

TUTOR Old ties give way to new.

Jason cares nothing now for those he once loved.

The promises of a man who seeks power

are easily made

and easily broken.

NURSE [TO CHILDREN] Do you hear?

Do you hear what kind of a father you have?

TUTOR Keep quiet old woman.

This is not for our mistress to know.

NURSE I wish Jason was dead.

No.

He’s still our master.

But how can he do this to his children?

Take them inside.

Keep them away from their mother.

I’ve seen her already

her eyes on fire

as though she’d do them harm

and nothing will quiet her rage

till she has claimed a victim.

MEDEA HOWLS FROM THE HOUSE

TUTOR You hear?

the anger grows in her heart

NURSE The storm gathers.

Shelter them from the lightning-strike,

keep them from her sight.

THE TUTOR SHEPHERDS THE CHILDREN AWAY

What will she do?

A soul full of wrong

a heart full of pride

and a mind fixed to its purpose.

MEDEA HOWLS FROM THE HOUSE

I pity you, poor creature.

So much hate.

The anger of those in power

puts all of us in danger.

Used to being in control

who can control them?

The passions of the powerful

bring no profit to the people.

MEDEA The people.

You are the women

the women of Corinth.

Here is your spokes-woman.

JASON BECOMES THE WOMAN

CHORUS Tell us, old woman, what has happened?

We hear the cry of the foreign princess.

We are sorry for the sorrows of this home.

NURSE This is no home.

It is torn apart.

Her husband celebrates his royal wedding,

my mistress weeps in her room.

CHORUS The cry we heard was a cry for death.

Why wish for death?

The final end comes fast enough.

Your husband plays

in a younger woman’s bed.

It’s a common story,

no cause to cry for death.

Will she come to us out here?

Listen to our words?

We want to help,

to comfort,

as only women can.

Speak gently to her,

bring her out of the house;

hurry

before she harms herself

or those that she loves most.

NURSE I’ll try,

but I doubt I have the skill to soothe her.

If any come near

her eyes burn

like a lioness guarding her cubs.

Where’s the music to soothe the savage soul?

where’s the music to cure

the bitter grief of death and disaster?

Not in my words, I fear,

but, to please you, I’ll try.

MEDEA ASSUMES HER OWN PERSONA

MEDEA Women of Corinth,

I am here –

why am I here? –

in order to be understood.

Those who live quiet lives,

modest lives,

as I do,

may be thought of as distant

or proud.

A foreigner especially

must be careful to be understood.

And I would not wish through lack of care

to offend my neighbours.

But what has happened is so unexpected

it has broken my heart.

I am finished.

I want to die.

It was everything for me to love one man

and he,

my husband,

has turned out wholly vile.

This is your country.

Your family and friends are here.

I have no-one,

I am no-one –

a refugee,

thought of as nothing by my husband –

a prize won in a foreign land.

No mother, no brother, no relation

no refuge in this sea of woe.

So what do I ask?

This:

If I can find the way

to pay my husband back –

my husband,

the girl he married

and her father –

for what’s been done to me,

I beg your silence.

At other times women can be fearful,

acquiescent,

and shrink from the sight of the steel blade,

but once wronged in love

we women are allowed such thoughts of blood.

Give me your silence.

CHORUS This we promise.

We understand, Medea.

You’re right to pay your husband back.

MEDEA Look!

Kreon approaches,

CHORUS Our King.

No doubt he has a matter of much importance

to announce.

MEDEA You never met Kreon, children.

Your father didn’t think it useful

to introduce the sons

of his foreign wife.

JASON ADOPTS THE PERSONA OF KREON

KREON Medea.

I order you to leave my lands

an exile

with your children.

And to do so straightaway.

I will not return to my home

till you are safe

beyond the borders of my country.

MEDEA I am lost.

I bear now the full force

of the storm of your hate

and can find no harbour to shelter in.

But why?

Why Kreon?

Why will you banish me?

KREON I fear you.

I am not ashamed to admit it.

I fear the harm you could do my daughter.

I have ample grounds for my fear.

You’re a clever woman,

well versed in the evil arts.

You’re angry at having lost

your husband’s love.

I have heard of your threats;

to my daughter

to Jason

to me.

So I must act with decision.

I prefer your hate

than to risk the outcome

of a softer course.

MEDEA I’ve suffered much for being thought clever.

Cleverness brings no profit,

just envy and ill-will.

Bring new ideas to fools,

you’re dubbed a fool yourself.

Challenge the learned,

you win nothing but hate.

I know myself how this happens:

my so-called cleverness

inspires envy from many,

hatred from the rest.

Yet I’m not so clever in the end.

So you’re frightened, Kreon, that I’ll harm you?

There’s no need.

It’s not for me to challenge

the authority of a King.

How have you injured me?

You have given your daughter

to a man you wish to promote.

A sensible move.

I hate my husband,

but you have acted wisely

and I bear no grudge that for you

things turn out well.

May the marriage be a lucky one.

Only let me stay.

Though I’m wronged,

I’ll still my voice

and accept the world as it is.

KREON These are gentle words.

And they make me trust you

even less than before.

No.

You must go.

The matter is decided.

I will not harbour an enemy in my country.

MEDEA I beg you.

Will you drive me out

and give no heed to my prayers?

KREON I will –

because I love my family more than you.

MEDEA O my country –

the land of my birth –

how I ache for you now.

KREON I love my country too –

and will protect it.

MEDEA What pain is provoked by the passion of love.

KREON Not when passion is suitably tempered.

MEDEA I wasn’t the cause of this.

KREON Go. Now. Spare me the pain of forcing you.

MEDEA There’s no greater pain to torment me.

KREON My men will remove you by force.

MEDEA No, Kreon, no. Listen, I beg you.

KREON You’re determined to create a disturbance.

MEDEA I will go into exile. That is not what I beg for.

KREON Then why this violence and unseemly behaviour?

MEDEA Let me stay one day.

One day.

To prepare for my exile

and provide for my children,

since their father has abandoned them.

Have pity on them.

You have children of your own, Kreon.

For myself

exile holds no terror

but my children

Kreon,

my children.

Pity them.

KREON I am not by nature a tyrant.

I’ve softened before and been the loser.

And even now I fear I’m doing the wrong thing.

Yet all the same

I’m a civilised man

You shall have your will.

But know this:

if the light of heaven

find you tomorrow,

you and your children,

within the confines of my country,

you die.

The word is spoken and is immutable.

You have this day –

and this day alone.

For in the course of this one day

you can do

none of the things I fear.

KREON TURNS INTO THE CHORUS

CHORUS O Medea.

Your fate is cruel.

What way to turn?

Who can help?

The gods swamp you with suffering,

drown you in despair.

MEDEA Things do not go well,

no doubt of that.

But nor do things turn out

entirely to my disadvantage.

Would I have fawned on that man,

begged and clung,

without some gain or profit?

For all the paraphernalia of power

he lacks the ruthlessness of an effective ruler.

He grants one day.

And this one day will produce

three corpses.

The father, the girl

and my husband.

I know many ways to kill

but do not know, my friends,

which one to chose.

To fire the bridal house;

to sharpen the sword and thrust it to the heart,

stealing into the palace to the newly-weds’ bed.

But there I risk my capture before the deed

and my own death mocked by laughter.

Best take the route that’s most direct,

use the cleverness for which I’m feared

and call them to account

with poison.

So think them dead.

What town then will take me in?

What country’s king would dare

to offer refuge?

None that I know.

Then for the moment, wait.

And if some haven of safety

presents itself,

with cunning and stealth

I’ll commit this crime.

If not,

if alone in the world,

I’ll take the sword

and hew and hack

embracing my own death

in this final act.

JASON ENTERS

JASON Medea.

MEDEA Jason.

JASON Medea.

This isn’t the first time

your passion

has landed you in trouble.

Had you quietly accepted our ruler’s will

you might have lived in this land

and kept your home.

As it is

your loose talk has led to your exile.

For my part

I’ve always tried to calm the anger of the King

and asked that you be allowed to remain.

But every day you utter some new outrage

and finally he’s left no option but to banish you.

All the same

and despite your conduct

I’m not a man to turn his back on his friends

And so I’ve come to offer money,

that you and the children

may not go penniless into exile.

Exile brings many discomforts.

And even if you hate me,

I am determined to do the decent thing.

MEDEA You shameless coward.

You think it bold,

you think it brave

to face the friend you’ve wronged –

the friend you’ve deserted –

destroyed.

It isn’t bold,

it isn’t brave.

You can only do so because

you have no sense of shame –

utterly shameless –

the worst of all human diseases.

But you do me one favour by coming,

for I can speak ill of you

and lighten my heart

and you will suffer while you listen.

To begin at the beginning.

I saved your life.

And every Greek,

every shipmate of yours aboard the Argo,

knows I saved it –

when you were tasked to yoke the bulls

that snorted fire,

when you were set to sow the deadly field

of fighting men.

I killed the sleepless snake

that circled in its folds

the Golden Fleece

so you might win the prize.

I fled my father and my home

and sailed with you to Pelias’ land of Iolcus.

For your sake

I contrived the death of Pelias,

hacked by his daughters’ hands,

to rid you of your fear.

This is what I’ve given you.

And this is what you’ve given me:

taken a younger bride to bed,

even though I’ve borne you children –

if we were childless then there might be some excuse.

Do you believe the gods,

by whom you swore your marriage vows,

have ceased to rule?

Or is your will alone now sufficient moral authority?

How, how, how

have I been so deceived?

Let me share my concerns with you

as though with a friend –

you! how did I ever think you a friend?

But let’s suppose.

Where am I to go?

To my father?

I betrayed him and my country when I fled with you.

To Iolcus, to the daughters of Pelias?

What a welcome they’d give me

who murdered their father.

These things I did for you.

And how well you repay me.

What a distinguished husband I have –

distinguished for breaking his vows.

And how well it will reflect on you

when I am thrown out of this country

with your children.

Your children

and she who saved your life

left to wander as beggars.

Why, when we have the means

to tell gold that is pure from the counterfeit,

have we no mark engraved on the bodies of men

to know the true from the false?

JASON You saved me you say.

You blaspheme against the gods

who alone are responsible for my salvation.

Your passion for me,

for which I cannot be held to account,

compelled you to act in the way you did.

And you in the end

are the one who’s made the major gains.

I brought you from a land of the darkest barbarism

into the light of civilisation.

Here we learn to live by law

and shun the rule of naked force.

The arts, the skills for which you’re justly famed

here have been recognised and honoured.

If you were living still at the ends of the earth

your name would never have been known.

You have much to thank me for, Medea.

As for my wedding.

If you would only look at the matter dispassionately

you would recognise this to be

a clever move,

a wise move,

in the best interests of the children

and yourself.

Please – control.

Having arrived here from Iolcus,

my reputation stained with the blood of Pelias –

whose murder you plotted on your own –

what luckier chance than this,

to marry the daughter of the King?

It was not –

and no doubt this is the thought that upsets you most –

that I grew tired of your bed

and craved the comfort of a younger bride.

Nor with a thought to sire more children for the sake of it,

we’ve enough already.

But –

and this is the nub of the matter –

to gain a foothold in the corridors of power.

What’s the point of remaining on the outside

if the opportunity exists to cross that threshold?

I grabbed at the chance

of a brighter future for our children

and hoped that by producing sons of royal stock

to be brothers to yours,

to draw the two families together

in one happy unit

to the benefit of us all.

Now this seems to me

an entirely sensible plan.

And so it would to you

if you weren’t so obsessed

with this troublesome question of love.

You women,

if all goes well in bed

you think you have the lot;

but any deficiencies there

and you’re blind

to what’s in your best and truest interests.

It would have been better

for men to have got their children

in some other way

and women never to have existed.

Then life would have been worth living.

MEDEA I’ve admired your way with words

when wheedling an enemy.

It’s instructive to find that weapon

turned on me.

But it won’t do, Jason.

You’re not clever enough.

You betray yourself as well as the rest of us.

Answer this:

if you mean anything you’ve said

why have you married behind my back

without discussing all this with me first?

JASON And you of course would have given your blessing.

How could I broach a subject like that

with a woman who’s patently so unreasonable?

MEDEA It’s not that,

no.

You simply saw the social disadvantage

of being married to a foreign wife

and seized the opportunity

to sire yet more children

on a younger brood-mare.

JASON I’ll say again

it was not because of any particular personal attributes

that I made this royal alliance

but to protect you

and to breed royal brothers to our sons

as a sure defence for us all.

MEDEA Let me never embrace an outcome

however happy it might be

that’s built on pain.

JASON How can you be so perverse?

How can what’s done for your good be painful?

You turn white to black,

a happy chance to misfortune.

MEDEA Done for my good?

I’m being sent into friendless exile.

JASON You chose it for yourself.

Don’t blame others.

MEDEA I chose it?

How?

Did I betray my husband?

JASON You called down curses on the royal family.

MEDEA And a curse is what I’ll become to your house too.

JASON This is pointless.

If you want money

for the children and yourself in exile

say so,

I will be generous.

Or introductions to my friends

who will treat you well.

You’d be a fool not to accept.

Control your passion and you will profit.

MEDEA Never will I accept

the favours of your friends

nor take anything from you.

You shame yourself in offering it.

JASON Then I call the gods to witness:

I’ve tried to help you and the children

to the best of my ability

but you have refused.

My offers of help

have been met with insults.

And you alone are responsible

for the consequences.

JASON EXITS

MEDEA Go.

No doubt you hanker for your virgin bride

and itch to join her in the marital bed.

Go, consummate your marriage.

But be aware

the pleasures of your wedding bed

may be short-lived.

CHORUS Medea,

we feel,

we understand how you suffer.

Let him die whose heart

is not constant to his friends.

Let him die whose mind

can no longer distinguish his own truth.

MEDEA And then came Aigeus,

King of Athens.

AIGEUS Medea.

MEDEA Here in Corinth?

AIGEUS Medea.

MEDEA A man of honour

a man of his word

a man who knew the value of friendship.

AIGEUS Medea.

MEDEA Aigeus.

THEY EMBRACE

AIGEUS The older the friendship

the less formal the greeting.

MEDEA Why are you here? So far from home.

AIGEUS I’m on my way back from the oracle at Delphi.

MEDEA Why were you there?

AIGEUS To enquire how I might produce children.

MEDEA Still childless?

AIGEUS Yes.

MEDEA You have a wife?

AIGEUS Oh yes.

MEDEA Did the oracle speak?

AIGEUS It did. But words too wise for me to guess their meaning.

MEDEA May I know?

AIGEUS That’s why I’m here.

MEDEA Then tell me the words of the oracle.

AIGEUS I am not to untie the dangling foot of the wine-bladder …

MEDEA Until?

AIGEUS Until I reach again my hearth and home.

MEDEA Dangling foot …

AIGEUS Ah yes – dangling foot.

Hearth and home.

Medea?

MEDEA You talk of children.

AIGEUS You’re distressed.

MEDEA My husband, Aigeus.

AIGEUS What of him?

MEDEA Has taken a new wife. He has betrayed me.

AIGEUS He wouldn’t dare.

MEDEA He has.

AIGEUS Is he in love? Or out of love?

MEDEA He’s in love – with ambition.

AIGEUS Who’s his new wife?

MEDEA The daughter of Kreon, King of Corinth.

AIGEUS I understand your upset.

MEDEA And I’m banished this country.

AIGEUS Banished? By whom?

MEDEA By Kreon.

AIGEUS And Jason accepts it? This is incredible.

MEDEA He pretends to protest

but it’s what he wants.

Aigeus,

I beg you in the name of our friendship,

take pity on me.

Receive me in your land,

protect me in your palace,

let Athens shine as a beacon of justice.

This one act would secure your happiness

for I will end your childlessness.

With my knowledge of drugs and medicines

I will make you a father.

AIGEUS Medea,

I want to help.

For the sake of our friendship,

for the promise of future children.

But you must understand my position:

if you arrive in Athens an exile

I can welcome you in with no blame attached,

but I cannot myself be seen

to carry you there.

Once there you’re safe,

but make the journey yourself

for I cannot afford

to stir ill-will against me

from whatever quarter.

MEDEA I understand.

I know how your world works.

AIGEUS MAKES TO GO

But swear it.

Swear that if I make the journey myself

you will protect me.

AIGEUS I’ve said I will.

MEDEA Swear it.

My enemies will accept more readily

why you refuse to give me up

if you have sworn an oath.

AIGEUS That’s true.

The swearing of an oath

leaves both of us in a stronger position.

What shall I swear by?

MEDEA By whatever’s most precious to you.

AIGEUS Then I swear on the lives of my unborn children,

I swear on the promise of future generations,

to protect you.

MEDEA I am satisfied.

Farewell.

AIGEUS GOES

Now my triumph is secure,

my foot is on the road,

those who do me wrong

shall pay the price.

This man Aigeus is my harbour

where I can fasten in safety

when the storm erupts around me.

And now I know what I must do.

One of you find Jason,

request he visits me once more.

When he comes

my words will be gentle.

I’ll say I agree,

I approve the match,

applaud his foresight,

thank him for his care.

But I shall beg my children may remain.

Not that I wish to leave them here

to brave the insults

that foreigners bear,

but as angels of death

to carry destruction to Kreon’s daughter.

For I will send my sons

with gifts for the bride

to secure their reprieve.

A dress of cloth-of-gold

and a glittering diadem.

The gifts I send

I’ll impregnate with sulphurous poisons

so that when she dons the dress,

when she rests the diadem upon her brow

she,

and all who touch the girl,

will die in a torment of agony.

And so the account is paid.

What comes next

fills me with horror.

For I now resolve

to kill my children.

And when I’ve hacked the limbs of Jason’s line

I’ll flee the spilling

of my own womb’s blood –

my children –

an act against nature

but so it shall be.

For he must never see alive again

the children spawned on me

nor hope to propagate his blood

through a younger bride.

And with these deaths will die

the tainted future Jason built

upon a present wrong.

CHORUS Both for your sake, Medea,

and to keep the world from running mad,

I tell you not to do this thing.

MEDEA There’s nothing else to do.

Your advice is quite predictable.

You don’t feel the pain.

CHORUS How can you hold it in your heart

to kill your flesh and blood?

Where would you find the courage?

How could you steel your hand

to carry through the attempt?

How, when you look upon them,

will you stay the tears that blind?

You won’t.

When your children fall to their knees and implore

you will not find it in you

to dip your hands in their blood.

MEDEA I will.

For this is the way to destroy my husband.

CHORUS And you too.

Of all the women in the world

you will be the most unhappy.

MEDEA So it must be.

No compromise is possible.

ENTER JASON

JASON Medea.

I’m here as you asked.

Despite the insults

I’m here to help if I can.

MEDEA Jason, forgive me.

You know me Jason,

you know how passionate I can be,

forgive me.

I’ve talked this over with myself:

“fool” I said

“am I mad?

Why do I so antagonise the authorities?

And make an enemy of my husband

who out of selfless loving care

provides for my happiness?

Why am I so unreasonable?”

I recognise my folly.

I see the wisdom of your choice.

I should have helped you in these plans of yours,

stood by the marriage bed,

played attendance on your bride.

But we women,

we sometimes let our feelings to the fore.

We lack perhaps

the enviable control

and clarity of vision you display.

I thank you Jason

for helping a poor barbarian reach

a more mature understanding

of what civilised behaviour really means.

Children come,

come and join us, children.

Welcome your father and say goodbye;

join with your mother

in making friends again

with him who loves us

and has our best interests at heart.

We have made our peace,

all anger gone.

Reach out and embrace him.

- Is this how they’ll reach to me,

embracing death,

their tender arms? -

O children I weep.

In ending at last this quarrel with your father

my eyes fill with tears.

JASON Medea,

I’m so pleased to hear what you have to say.

And pleased to forgive you.

I can see why you might have jumped

to the wrong conclusions

and I’m delighted the cleverness for which you’re famed

has finally prevailed.

Now I can look forward to a future

in which our children will take their rightful place

amongst the leaders of Corinth.

I look forward to a future

in which our sons will be the true upholders

of the values Corinth stands for –

order, justice, decency,

equality of opportunity,

an open and tolerant society,

a society in which effort and learning

are rewarded,

a society that cares

for those less fortunate than ourselves.

I look forward to a future

in which our children will travel the world

spreading the light of civilisation

even into its darkest corners,

even amongst the most backward and barbarous

nations on this earth.

I look forward to a future

in which my children’s children will know themselves to be

free citizens

of a world-wide brotherhood of man.

Medea, your eyes are wet with tears.

Why do you pale?

Is this vision of mine

not a pleasing vision?

MEDEA I was thinking about my children.

JASON I’m thinking of them too, Medea. You should be happy.

MEDEA Yes.

I don’t doubt you believe in your vision.

JASON Then why the tears?

MEDEA A mother’s tears aren’t easily explained.

But Jason,

I’ve said much of what I wanted to say;

one thing remains.

I’m banished –

and I know for me that’s for the best,

not to be an embarrassment here,

treated with suspicion –

but Jason,

so that you can build this visionary future of yours,

beg Kreon that the children may remain.

JASON I’ll try.

But I’m doubtful of success.

MEDEA Persuade your wife to beg this from her father.

JASON If I can she’ll certainly succeed.

MEDEA Then let me help you win her to our cause.

I’ll send her gifts

I know no woman can resist:

a dress of cloth of gold

and a glittering diadem –

the sacred vestments of a priestess in my homeland

but quite the height of fashion here.

Let my children present them with their hands

so her heart may soften to their plight.

JASON Medea,

I know the value you attach

to these vestments of yours,

you keep them.

My wife’s not short of dresses to wear.

And I’m confident my words

weigh more with my wife

than gold.

MEDEA Indulge me Jason.

To win my sons’ reprieve

I’d give my very life.

Allow me this gesture.

Go children, go together

to the big palace.

Give these gifts to daddy’s new wife,

to the nice princess,

and beg her to let you stay in Corinth.

Give her the dress and the little crown

from your own hands.

That’s most important.

Go quick as you can.

Your mother longs to hear

that what she aches for in her heart

has come to pass.

CHORUS Now no hope is left for the children’s lives,

none.

Already they walk in the shadow of murder.

And the bride, poor bride,

will accept the curse of the gold.

The dress she’ll pull

around her pale shoulders,

set the circlet of death

around her yellow hair.

The dress is her shroud

the crown her wreath

her wedding guests, the dead below.

And the eager bridegroom

doesn’t yet see

how his readiness to match with kings

brings

destruction on his children and his bride

to the torment of his soul.

For your grief too I weep,

mother of little children,

you who will murder your own

in vengeance for the loss of married love.

MEDEA Which Jason has destroyed

taking another to wife.

TUTOR Mistress,

Mistress,

the children are reprieved.

The royal bride has taken in her hands

your golden gifts.

Your children are safe.

MEDEA I’m lost.

TUTOR I don’t think you understand.

MEDEA I’m lost.

TUTOR Have I unwittingly told of some disaster

when I thought the news I brought was good?

MEDEA You’ve told me what you’ve told me.

The fault’s not yours.

TUTOR Then why the tears?

MEDEA There’s no turning back.

I’ll never see my children again.

TUTORS Others before have been parted from their children.

We cannot fight what fate decrees.

MEDEA Then I’ll make my farewells.

Wait for them inside the house.

EXIT TUTOR

O children, my children,

you have a city,

you have a home,

where without your mother

you could live for ever.

But I will never see you grow,

never see you reach manhood,

never dress your brides and make your marriage beds

and carry the torch at your weddings.

How can I hold to this self-willed thought?

Why did I bring you

with so much pain

into this world?

I had such hopes for you once

and such hopes for the world you’d grow up in.

You would care for me in my old age

and when I died

you would lead the mourning multitudes

in honouring my grave.

But my hopes have died

and the life I’ll lead without you

will be filled with sorrow and sadness.

O my children

why do you smile so sweetly?

O friends

what can I do?

My will falters

in the face of these smiles.

I cannot carry it through.

I’ll take my children with me.

Why should I harm them

to hurt their father

and suffer twice the hurt myself?

No, no,

it can’t be done.

And let my husband escape unhurt,

mocking my cowardice?

These are the soft thoughts

of a weak willed woman.

I must hold to my purpose.

But how can I destroy

what I created?

My body cries “you cannot do this thing!

Let them go, have pity,

let them live

to comfort you in Athens.”

No!

By the fury that rages in my soul

it shall not be.

I shall never allow

my children to suffer

at the hands of my enemies.

Their fate is sealed.

The bride cannot escape.

The diadem is now upon her head,

the princess writhes in the folds of the dress

and soon the next part of the story

must be played –

dreadful for me

more dreadful yet for them.

Children,

give me your hands for your mother to kiss.

Dear, dear hands,

how dear these lips to me.

Your loving eyes

your perfect little boys’ bodies!

I wish happiness for you both:

but not in this world.

What hope there was of that

your father has destroyed.

How good to hold you,

to feel the smoothness of your skin,

to breathe the sweet, sweet smell of childhood.

Go. Go. I can’t any longer,

I can’t touch you, look on you, any longer.

My grief’s too great.

I understand the horror of the thing I intend.

But the fury of my passion

drives me beyond the distinction

of right from wrong.

The messenger comes.

I have waited long for this.

One of Jason’s servants is on his way.

his laboured breath tells he has news for me,

and evil news at that.

MESSENGER Medea,

for the dreadful thing,

the outrage you have done,

run for your life.

Take what you can,

by sea or by land

make your escape.

MEDEA Tell me the reason to fly.

MESSENGER She’s dead, just now,

the royal princess.

Kreon too, her father,

by your poison.

MEDEA The sweetest words you ever spoke.

Now and for ever

I count you amongst my dearest friends.

MESSENGER Woman, are you mad?

The house of the King will rise in fury against you.

You’re enjoying this? Are you not afraid?

MEDEA How did they die?

Take your time, friend.

There’s plenty to enjoy.

If you tell me in agony,

you delight me twice as much again.

MESSENGER When I saw your children enter the house

with their father

I was so happy.

So were we all.

All through the house the talk was of one thing,

how you and your husband had made up your quarrel.

Some kissed the children’s hands,

some their yellow hair,

and I myself was so full of joy

I followed the children to the Princess’ chamber.

She was all eyes for Jason.

But when she saw his children with him

she turned away in anger.

Your husband tried to soothe the girl’s bad temper:

You mustn’t look unkindly on your friends, he said.

For my sake,

he said,

accept these golden gifts

and beg your father to reprieve these children

from their exile.

Do this for me.

As soon as she saw the golden dress

she couldn’t help herself

but readily agreed to all her husband asked.

And he and the children had hardly left the room

before she took the golden robe

and wrapped it round her body

and placed the golden crown upon her head.

She danced around the room

overjoyed with the gifts

turning this way and that to show them off.

Then all of a sudden –

it was horrific –

MEDEA the colour drained from her face

MESSENGER her limbs began to shake

MEDEA she staggered back

MESSENGER managing, just, to reach a chair.

One of her women

thinking she was having a fit

cried out God Bless Us.

But that was before we saw the white foam bubbling from her lips

her eyes rolling back in their sockets

MEDEA the burns that streaked her face.

MESSENGER Then the woman let out a piercing shriek

and the rest of the women ran

some to the king

some to the husband of the bride

the palace ringing with their cries

while the girl herself began to scream

MEDEA and scream

MESSENGER and scream

because the poison was eating her skin.

It was attacking from two places at once:

the wreath of gold around her head

hissed a stream of all-devouring fire

while the dress of gold your children gave

fastened firmly to the girl’s young flesh.

She leapt from the chair

her body aflame

shaking her hair in a frenzy

this way and that

trying to dislodge the diadem from her brow

but it wouldn’t budge

the gold gripped fast

and the shaking of her hair

served only to fan the flames.

All this we watched.

Till finally

accepting her fate

she fell to the ground

her face and body charred beyond recognition.

From the top of her head

bubbled fire and blood

like the sticky ooze of a pine

while the blackened flesh of her body

fell from her bones

MEDEA rasped by the unseen fangs of the poison.

MESSENGER It was the most terrifying thing I’ve seen in my life.

And the terror held us from touching the corpse:

we could see what would happen if we did.

But the King her father

in his distress

ignorant of exactly what had happened

bursting into the room

flung himself upon the corpse

hugging her hard in his arms

kissing her

crying aloud

O my child

what power has so hideously destroyed you

who has robbed me of you

robbed me of my reason to live?

O my poor child

I wish I could die with you.

A ghastly struggle ensued.

The old man made to rise

but as the ivy clings to the laurel-tree

so the golden dress clung to his body

and when he tried to lift himself to his knees

MEDEA her corpse dragged him down

MESSENGER and when he tried to pull against the weight

MEDEA his aged flesh tore from his bones

MESSENGER till at last the struggle ceased

MEDEA and he found the death he wished for.

MESSENGER There they lie

the happy bride

the king, her father.

Two corpses welded together

with gold.

There’s nothing left to tell, Medea.

Make your escape.

This business of living

has always seemed to me

a thankless task.

Those who seek an underlying purpose

to this hideous comedy of life

leave themselves most open to despair.

Happiness

is a false god

an illusory dream

in pursuit of which

many waste their lives.

Money, power, fame -

they mark a man out as fortunate;

but happy?

MESSENGER GOES

MEDEA My task is certain:

to kill my children without delay

and flee this country.

Any delay

and my children will suffer death

at the hands of those less gentle.

Since either way they die

then I, their mother, shall kill them.

I must steel my heart,

not be afraid of this fearful

and necessary wrong.

Come my hand,

poor wretched hand,

and grasp the sword.

Take it.

Step towards the frontier of despair.

Do not think of them,

how sweet they are

and how you are their mother.

For one short day

forget they are your children.

Afterwards weep.

For even though I kill them

they are very dear.

CHORUS O shining light of day

lend your light to illumine

the dark soul of this woman

before she hack her flesh and blood.

Do you hear? Do you hear the children’s cries?

How can you do it?

How can you kill a child

thrust from your womb?

Shouldn’t we enter the house?

MEDEA You’re sworn to silence, not to intervene.

CHORUS Shouldn’t we save a child from murder?

MEDEA You gave your word.

CHORUS What’s our word against a child’s life?

MEDEA The breaking of an oath is at the heart of this matter.

ENTER JASON

JASON You women

why do crowd outside the house?

Is Medea there

the author of this barbarous crime?

Or has she already made her escape?

She’ll have to hide in the bowels of the earth

or raise herself on wings into the air

to escape the royal vengeance.

But I’m not concerned with her.

It’s the children I’m here for.

Kreon’s friends will spill her blood

and let them.

I’ve come to protect my sons

for fear the King’s supporters harm them

in avenging their mother’s wicked deed.

NURSE Jason, you come too late.

Your children are dead

and by their mother’s hand.

JASON No

No, no

You destroy me.

NURSE Your children are no more.

JASON Where did she kill them?

In the house?

Unlock the doors

break down the bars

let me see this twin evil –

my children dead

and her.

Her I’ll destroy.

MEDEA You cannot touch me.

I ride in the air in a chariot

drawn by dragons

safe beyond your reach.

But you are a man of reason, Jason,

a civilised man bound by rules and laws.

Such a barbarous vision is beyond your comprehension.

JASON You are the most loathed and despised

of women in the world -

you are a mother who has killed her children.

How can you look upon the day –

how can the day look upon you –

when you have done a thing that cries against nature?

You have killed your children

and left me childless.

I see know what I was blind to before:

you are at root evil.

And the civilised world I brought you to

can do nothing to tame your barbarity.

The end was in the beginning.

You betrayed your father and your homeland.

You hacked to pieces your own brother

to delay your father’s pursuit,

and now

because you miss the pleasures of the bed

you have killed my children.

No woman raised in Greece could even imagine such a crime

but I wasn’t content to find

one amongst them to marry.

I was betrayed by a foreign princess

a monster

not a woman

a witch

a fiend from hell

not a member of the human race.

Go, leave,

stained with your children’s blood.

Leave me here to rail against my fate

cheated of my new-wedded love

cheated of the sons I begot and raised

and who you have cheated of the future

I was building for them.

My life is at an end.

MEDEA You know the truth, Jason.

You know what you did to me.

No, you’re not going to live a comfortable, pleasant life

with you’re comfortable, civilised princess,

mocking the cast-off foreigner,

laughing at the commitments you made;

nor is she,

nor Kreon who brokered the match

thinking me so much rubbish.

The one comfort I have in killing my children

is to have saved them

from a future built on your lies,

to have saved the world

from a whole succession of Jasons.

Call me a fiend if you must

but let this terrify you more:

I am of the human race

and I won’t be dismissed as barbarous.

I’ve done this to make you feel,

to make you recognise that this

civilisation

that you set so much store by

is nothing but a wicked self-deceit,

that in it’s name

you commit acts of horror

quite the equal of mine

yet all the worse for being dispassionate,

coated in the self-satisfied smiling sneer of that word.

That is why

I fill your civilised heart with pain.

JASON You too will feel this pain. You will share this sorrow.

MEDEA Yes. And this sorrow will bind us for ever.

JASON How you have betrayed our children.

MEDEA Their father showed the way.

JASON It wasn’t me that killed them.

MEDEA It was your lack of care

your lack of love

the ease with which you betrayed my trust.

This is what killed them.

JASON Such betrayals are commonplace.

MEDEA In your civilised society.

JASON They’re no excuse for murder.

MEDEA The constant pain of betrayal

is enough to kill the soul.

JASON You have no soul.

You are wholly evil.

Your actions show this.

MEDEA In spite of all that’s done

I cannot make you understand.

JASON Because you cannot justify what is unjustifiable.

Give me my children’s bodies to bury

and leave me here to grieve.

MEDEA No.

I will bury them myself far from Corinth

so no angry hand can tear up their grave.

JASON I call upon the gods

to destroy you.

MEDEA The gods don’t exist

for you.

You denied the gods

when you broke the vow you swore to me.

Your gods are dead.

So where will you look for comfort?

JASON I hate you.

With all of my being.

MEDEA And that’s all that you have left.

JASON I loved my children.

MEDEA No you didn’t. I loved them.

JASON Let me tell them how much I loved them.

Let me kiss their lips.

MEDEA Now you would speak to them,

now you would kiss them.

In life you rejected them.

JASON Let me touch for the last time

their delicate flesh.

MEDEA No.

No such comfort.

Your words are wasted.

Having buried my sons

I shall go to Athens

while you,

as is right,

will die

MEDEA SLOWLY LAYS JASON DOWN AS IN DEATH

without distinction

your skull split

by the falling prow

of the rotting hulk of the Argo,

the ship in which you carried me back from Colchis.

Till which time, Jason,

use the length of your days,

as I will use mine,

to try to understand.

BOYS I don’t understand, mummy.

Tell us again.