Phaedra
A Mythic Drama In 7 Scenes
By Robert P. Arthur
About the Play:
Phaedra was performed at Christopher Newport University under the direction of Naum Panovski and starring international film star Ina Gogolova; it was performed first for the general public and then for an invited VIP audience from foreign embassies in Washington D.C. It won six Port Folio awards, including Best Play. It is best described as a post-modern play in contemporary English poetry. Through based on the well-known Phaedra story of ancient origin it is an original work, not an adaptation or translation; nor is it written in traditional verse. Further, it has no artistic debt to any contemporary work.
Time: Indefinite
Cast List:
Tony... A poet in his twenties
Jerry... Tony’s uncle
Phaedra... Tony’s stepmother, in her thirties
Nona... Phaedra’s middle-aged maid
Alisha... Tony’s fiancé
Teddy... Tony’s father and Phaedra’s husband
Tony’s Mother... A voice from the shadows
Fishwives... Figures in shadows
Place: A second story room with a window overlooking the night sea. The set is not realistic, possibly employing columns and a blue marble floor. A fire is burning in a suggestion of a fireplace. The type of room is unspecified and is furnished by only chair, a very small desk, and a full-length mirror.
From the Play:
Jerry: You are disturbed, Tony
By your stepmother's walks?
Tony: Night after night. She is predatory, Uncle. (Lightning flashes) Have you seen how she looks at me? Eyes boring, black as death, and grave?
Jerry: She longs for her own country. Who wouldn't? Left alone here, in the compound...with you and me...and her lying nursemaid, a terrible woman.
Tony: Often, Phaedra pauses beneath this window, listening. What does she mean by it?
Jerry: How should I know? I'm a bachelor, and do your father's books.
Tony: Sometimes I dream of my father and Phaedra in their bedroom by the sea...in failing light, she combing and braiding her long black hair...(Tony shuts eyes.) Roses with thorns are affixed to her mirror, as if by faith. My father, quiet, appears, suddenly, behind her, his rough hands wet and slick with a rabbit's blood.
Jerry: Dreams mean nothing. Oh, what's this...an error here...in the bill of lading. Sixteen times fourteen...one sixty-eight! (Jerry erases entry)
Tony: Between my father and me, Uncle, there are depths, unfathomed
